Night Falls
by hdgcat
Summary: Towards the end of her life, Sookie discovers that some relationships never die. OC/with vamp appearances: Bill,Eric,Pam, plus a couple of surprises
1. Chapter 1

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns this wonderful universe and characters, gosh darn it._

_All mistakes are purely my own. _

_I've found it odd over the past few years I've been involved with this fandom, that considering it's based around vampires, no one ever really wants to deal with mortality. Some how Sookie ends up being eternally beautiful and youthful. I wonder if , as a group, our fascination for vampires is driven by our own fears of our impending aging and death. My father turned 81 last month and had to have a pacemaker installed to keep his heart pumping regular and I had a birthday as well, so these themes have been on my mind. So , I decided to see what would happen if I began a story towards the end of Sookie's life._

_This is a short story, it will only be a couple chapters. I hope you like it. _

For some reason, I love it when night falls. It's strange, this sense of anticipation that comes over me as the sun makes its slow dive into the trees outside my window. My love of the sunshine and outdoors is well known. Even in winter, I manage to finagle myself a little fresh air time. And yet the cloak of night comes bringing a comfort that is absent during the day. Who knows if I'll ever figure it out why. I'll push myself to stay awake until the entire building of residents is asleep and my mind can feel rested. Then I allow sleep to take me. The next morning I have to start all over again.

Relatively speaking, breakfast is one of the better meals served here, at Green Forest Nursing Home. Breakfast food is fairly bland to begin with, so I don't notice the lack of seasoning like with our other meals. I've had to adjust to the generic nature of the bulk meals the kitchen here cooks for the residents. I don't know if it's the result of all these Mid-Western Ohio cooks or the overly careful administration. Causing gastrointestinal issues for your patients creates for more work for the staff, especially when most of those patients require assistance with the bathroom. I am one of those patients and I feel for them, I really do, but I'd still love some New Orleans style dirty rice and beans or gumbo every once in a while.

I have time to think about these things since I've been in this nursing home for years now. I'm not sure how long, my perception and interest in time's passage has waned as I get closer to my own personal end. I was placed here when I was no longer able to care for myself without endangering myself in the process. All the people, or rather humans I've ever known are gone and the vampires I worked for had no interest in keeping me around once my abilities started to become unstable. But they weren't without some sense of responsibility towards me. They put me in this home which is a clean, well run facility and the people working in it are nice enough. No one has ever asked me to pay a bill, so I assume the vampires are paying for it.

It's not so bad, but I've learned to not speak of my previous employers and especially not let anyone know of my telepathic talent. My doctors suddenly find reasons to give me various pills and I lose time, drifting through my day in a medicated fog. It wreaks havoc with my ability to keep other people out of my head. I can't tell where their thoughts and mine begin and end, it's disturbing as all get out. So, I keep my mouth shut and pretend. Something I've become very good at over the years, especially when I ran away from Louisiana and all the baggage, drama, and mayhem that surrounded me there. I don't know if it was the right decision, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have reached this age if I had stayed there.

Some nights, like tonight , as the trees brown, lose their leaves and squirrels scamper getting ready for winter; I indulge myself a little. Pulling some exciting, fun memory from my youth, I sit next to my window and laugh a little. My body is still capable of feeling lust and desire, but they are distant relatives now, phoning occasionally to say hello and find out if I'm still alive. It's just as well, my memories involving various physical delights are a pleasure that takes me outside these walls to places I can no longer go.

So, it's not so bad, this aging thing. People tend to focus on what you've lost, but they forget you gain other things as well, perspective for starters. I've reached a certain comfort in the fact that I know death is not too far away and at least I know where. The How remains to be determined, but the list gets narrower as more of my various body functions deteriorate or break down entirely. Death loses a lot of its fear factor when uncertainty is removed.

I am interrupted from my musings by one of the nurses coming in, she starts fussing when she sees that I'm still awake, ignoring the tv program blaring in the corner.

"Oh, Miss Sookie, my little night owl! It's time you got to bed, don't you think? " she smiled at me. She was a decent person, really she was, but the innate patronizing inherent in her manner got on my nerves. I reminded myself of my manners.

"I guess I forgot the time. You know how it is", I answered blithely.

"Of course! Let's get you ready for bed", she responded spritely. Patients in bed meant they could get other work done, that's what she was thinking.

It wasn't like there was any big reason to fight her on this. Although, I still had some sort of feeling that something important was close by on the edge of my consciousness, trying to talk to me. She got me changed back into my dressing gown and robe, we took care of the bathroom activities. A fresh diaper was slid on me since I had been having problems in that area. Wetting a bed more than once pretty much earned you a nighttime diaper. I had argued and lost on this. After all, I wasn't the one who had to clean it up. And bedsores were a real possibility and could cause all sorts of other problems.

"Would you like me to open the curtains so you can get the sunshine in the morning?" she asked on her way out.

"Yes, please" I answered as I pondered the end of another day. The bed was comfortable enough, the room temperature warm and there was no reason for me not to fall asleep immediately. But it took a while and I lay in the dark wondering why.

88888888888888888888888888

I blearily shifted and blinked in confusion at the light in the room. Was it morning already? Then I realized that my bedside lamp had been turned on. There was a figure sitting next to my bed. What was this all about? They didn't allow visitors at this late hour, not that I'd had any for a number of years. That's what happens when you outlive everyone.

My glasses were removed from the nightstand and pushed onto my nose. I blinked a few more times and blankly stared at the man in front of me. It took a few seconds for the name to come to my lips.

"Bill?"

"Hello Sookie", he said. He looked exactly the same as the last time I had seen him. The dark hair was neatly combed back, the sideburns framing his angular beautiful face. The brown eyes rested on me steadily as he patiently waited for me to speak again.

At this point, I thought I was dreaming but usually the dreams weren't here in my room. Then he reached out and long cool fingers intertwined with mine. They gently squeezed as he favored me with a slight smile. Okay, not a dream then, this was real.

"Bill" I repeated, this time not a question.

"Yes, I'm here"

"How are you?" I asked a filler question because I couldn't figure out how and why he'd come to this place.

"I am fine, how are you?" he asked politely as ever. His Southern manners were sticking to him like glue it seemed.

"Okay, I guess. Getting older as you can see" I said with a little humor, trying to keep the mood light.

"Yes, I can see that" he said gently.

Rallying my brain cells to organize the troops took a couple more seconds, then I asked the question," What are you doing here? "

He squeezed my hand a little harder. "We want to bring you home".

TBC

_Intrigued? I hope so, the second chapter will be up in a couple days, it's being tweaked as we speak. _


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns this wonderful universe gosh darn it. _

_I have no beta, so all screw ups are entirely my own. _

_I wasn't sure if I'd be sitting here listening to crickets chirping after posting this. It's been a pleasure that there are those of you who don't find the subject matter depressing or distasteful in some way. Sookie as old lady is an itch I"ve been dying to scratch for a long time, but I didn't want to plow through an entire story to get there. So then a tiny light bulb went off over my head, why not just start at the end? I had intended for this to go maybe 3 chapters, but it may have to be 4, we'll see how it plays out._

_Hey look! She posted early! How did that happen? Blowing snow, a little vacation time, and sitting in a comfortable warm house all by my lonesome EQUALS total bliss and lots of writing time! _

_enjoy! _

"What's that supposed to mean? And who's 'we'?" I asked.

"Well, the king for starters…"he began.

"OH, no, no, no! I don't think so. The king was the reason I left to begin with. And how did you find me anyway? "

The Ohio vamps had been so careful to keep me a secret when I had snuck into their state, like a slave on the Underground Railroad (which wasn't too far off). Ohio was a strong state financially, but that didn't mean they wanted to go to war over swiping a telepath from under King Felipe's nose. Barry, my fellow telepath, had some contacts there and he had helped me escape the unforgiving situation in Louisiana. "I don't want you to end up trapped like me" he'd said. I had thanked him and not looked back. Hand delivered letters and the occasional cell phone call had kept me in contact with my brother Jason and a few of my friends like Tara, Sam, and Amelia. Other than that, my life was "off the books". No one knew I existed as far as computer records were concerned. After a few years, I realized I could breath again and just have a life. I worked for the Ohio vampires, but since they needed to keep me a secret, the workload was light. They never took me to vampire events for fear of running into one of the Louisiana vampires and there was plenty of regular boring business meetings they were able to utilize me for in Ohio. I was their secret weapon. I was treated well, the arrangements were fair and I had no complaints.

I stared at Bill, trying to read his usual cool expression. "Bill! How did you find me? I've been here for years and the Ohio vamps have been taking care of all my bills, so how did you know where I was?"

"Sookie", he paused, eyeing me carefully, which meant he was about to tell me something that he was unsure of my reaction. He began again, " Sookie, I've always known where you were. When you disappeared, it caused a tremendous amount of upheaval. Eric was convinced that the King had taken you and when the King convinced him he hadn't , he was sure Victor did. Victor denied it and claimed Eric was setting him up by hiding you. Because of your bond with Eric, he knew you were alive so he had me searching for you".

I sat wide eyed and listening, with no small amount of satisfaction I might add, to the problems I'd created for the vampire kingdom I'd run away from. It served those assholes right, pardon my French.

"After a year, I was convinced that you were not being held by the Nevada vampires. So, I started searching amongst all the other kingdoms. By this time, everyone was aware of the infighting going on between Nevada, Arkansas , and Louisiana. It occurred to me that maybe that had been the intended goal, to weaken our kingdom. So, I spent another year searching all the other states".

I had a sudden picture of Bill standing in front of a big map of the USA, putting little pins in each as he searched. "Did you tell Eric what you suspected?" I asked, suspecting his answer.

"No, I did not. I had no proof and with everything going on he had to focus on political manuveuring and our survival. The King did not take kindly to being accused of ignoring the laws in such a manner. And Eric wasn't exactly…."Bill paused more delicately this time.

"Eric pushed the envelope a little too much didn't he?"

Bill nodded, "The King was displeased which added another level of tension".

"I see". I had stopped even noticing that he and I were holding hands as casually as if we'd been doing it every day of my life.

"After searching for an additional year, I figured out that you were in Ohio. I wasn't sure of the circumstances and I didn't want the Ohio vampires to suspect that I knew".

Plots within plots within plots, a vampire just can't change his spots can he? "But you still didn't tell Eric?" This was surprising to me.

"I was beginning to suspect that you might be there of your own accord. I became convinced when I tried to glamour your brother, Sam, Tara and Amelia. They were all immune, from having been bespelled by a very powerful witch".

I just smiled. Octavia had fulfilled her promise to pay me back for helping her when she needed someplace to go. Her and her powerful witch boyfriend (who later became the powerful witch husband) , had created a complicated spell that helped the recipient resist glamouring. "That was one of my better ideas", I said modestly.

Bill smiled back, " Well, it worked. I'm pretty sure Eric had Pam check them out and try to glamour them for information as well. All of them were able to resist".

"None of them would have been able to tell you where I was anyway. I made sure of that. So, how did you know, really know ?"

"Your brother had invited me into his home years ago and never rescinded it. So, I would periodically search his house for your scent. Finally, I found it and read one of your letters to him, that's when I knew".

Damn Jason, each letter had come with specific instructions to BURN after reading. I should have known Jason couldn't follow instructions. Or, it may have been that he missed me enough, that he wanted to hang onto the only thing that was still tying us together. Well, he'd died years ago, so I'll never know now. Shaking my head clear of the past, I asked the next obvious question.

"But if you knew where I was and what was going on, why didn't you blab the whole thing to Eric? Or try to come see me? Wasn't that the whole point of looking for me?" It just didn't make sense to me that Bill would spend literally years looking for me, then not make contact when he did.

Bill lowered his head, resting his gaze upon our intertwined hands. I looked as well, wondering what he was seeing there. My wrinkled hands with the skin stretched as tightly as onion skin contrasted with his large, strong white hands. Hands that reflected the farmer he had been so long ago. He took a breath, an actual deep breath, then he answered me.

" You stated in your letters to your brother about what it was like having a new life and being able to start over. I thought about what you would be coming back to in Louisiana. Your life had been nothing but danger and pain since the day you met me…"

I interrupted him, "Bill, that's not true! Not entirely…it's ".

"Yes it is. My arrival in your life totally changed its direction and took away your right to choose your own path. I might as well have Turned you, the devastation was just as great". Here he stopped for a moment, contemplating his next words.

"But Bill, even if you hadn't come, the Queen would have still sent someone. The outcome would have been the same. Once my cousin Hadley opened her big mouth my fate was sealed. Sophie Anne just would have sent someone else, with some other prepackaged group of lies".

"Yes, but she didn't send someone, she sent me. And while my loyalty to my Queen was paramount, that does not mean I don't regret all the pain and suffering I brought into your life. When I saw in your letter that you felt you were finally leaving all that behind, I realized that this was my opportunity to pay back that debt. I couldn't do anything about the past, but I could help you find a future of your own choosing, so I didn't mention having found you to Eric".

"And he just …gave up?"

"Not exactly, Pam helped by encouraging him to let you go. The King had already decided that wasting further money searching for you was a waste. We had spent a tremendous amount of time and resources looking for you and she pointed out to Eric that it made him appear weak. She also told him that if someone like you couldn't appreciate what he had to offer, than you were a fool and did not deserve his devotion".

I winced at Pam's description of me. Pam wasn't one to mince words, much like her Maker. She was loyal to Eric and beneath her moderate wardrobe of conservative clothing there lay a ruthless, practical survivor. I said it out loud.

"That sounds like Pam".

We sat quietly, my mind churning with all this new information of what I had left in my wake. My efforts to cut myself off had worked. I had no idea of all the upheaval Bill was talking about. The Ohio vampires belonged to a different North American "division" and as such didn't deal directly with Louisiana very much. I had known that if anything ever happened to Eric, I would feel it. Over the years, our bond had grown weaker and weaker, but it was still there, softly humming in the background. Even Bill, with whom I'd shared blood …now that he was sitting in front of me…I realized I could still feel him. It was like looking across a football field in the darkness and seeing a tiny candle flickering in the opposing end zone. But it was still there.

I decided to cut to the chase. "Why are you here now, Bill?"

"I told you. We want you to come home".

"No, I mean why NOW, why not a couple years ago or ten years ago?"

"I would have come for you five years ago, but there was a coup and it took time for things to settle down. I didn't want to bring you back under those circumstances".

"Oh". Typical, vampires always had some sort of drama going on.

"Anyway, I finally told Eric a couple years ago that I had "discovered" (and here he made little air quotes with his fingers) where you were. He was all for sneaking into Ohio and stealing you back, but I convinced him that might not be the best course of action".

You got that right. Typical Eric, just storming the castle and stealing the maiden from the dragon's lair. I snorted in amusement, " You made the right call Bill. I would not have appreciated some strange vampires grabbing me out of my bed in the middle of the night. That would have given me a heart attack". Bill smiled and reached for my hand again. I was already starting to miss that cool hand resting in mine, damn him.

"I knew you were being well taken care of here. It's a decent facility and I had Judith's child check on you periodically to make sure you were healthy and safe".

Whoa ! Back the truck up.

"Judith's child? She Turned someone?" That was shocking to me, given the circumstances of her own Turning.

"Yes, She Turned someone who wanted to become a vampire. We needed more numbers to bolster our side, so I encouraged it. When circumstances were becoming dangerous, we needed vampires who could be trusted".

"Anyone I know?" I joked. Bill got silent for a second.

"Actually, yes, you do know her". Oh crapola.

"Who?" Please don't let it be one of my friends. It wasn't.

"Do you remember Selah Pumphrey?" he asked lightly.

Boy, did I.

"You're kidding! Selah's a vampire?" I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I especially wasn't sure how I felt about the fact that Selah had been creeping into Green Forest and spying on me for Bill. She probably still looked and smelled like a million bucks too.

"Selah moved to Little Rock remember? She had asked if I would Turn her , but I refused. So she asked me if I knew any vampires who would be decent Makers, someone easy to be around. So I introduced her to Judith since Judith was still living in Arkansas. It's worked out well for both of them".

I sat back, a little stunned by this information. It wasn't surprising to me that Selah would ask Bill to Turn her for some reason. I wondered why he had refused, but it wasn't really my business. Let's get down to brass tacks.

"I guess I'm still not clear on why you're here now". I was getting confused with all this new information being stuffed into my head. I'd spent the last few years trying to find ways to keep my mind from going to mush and now I was struggling to keep up.

"We had to negotiate with Ohio to bring you back to Louisiana. They were suspicious at first that we had some secret agenda or knew something about you that they did not. It took two years and various concessions (read bribery) to get them to agree to it".

"But why does the King care? My telepathy has gotten spotty like most of my other functions which is why I stopped working for the Ohio vampires".

"Sookie, I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear earlier. Eric is the King now".

I think I stopped breathing for a minute, absorbing that information. It wasn't that I couldn't picture Eric becoming a King because I could. But I had a sudden mental image of him on a throne ( a real one this time) complete with the fur trimmed robe and crown perched on that golden head.

"I think I need a drink of water" I said slowly. Bill bounced right out of his seat and went over to my little fridge where I kept a small pitcher of water nice and cold. I didn't ask him how he knew that was there. He poured it and handed me the glass. He silently watched me drink for a moment.

" I have someone waiting outside, who wants to see you", he said.

I shrank back a little. Please don't let it be Eric. "It's not Eric is it?"

"No, it's not Eric", he answered.

I deflated a little. "Oh"

"It creates protocol issues if a monarch tries to go into another state without utilizing proper channels. It's someone else", after a nod from me, he turned and called out, "It's okay to come in now".

A shiny blur and a flash of fang was all I saw before I was immediately engulfed in a scary hard bear hug. "Bubba!" I cried out.

"Miss Sookie!" Bubba said happily.

"Bubba, take it easy! Remember what I told you in the car", Bill warned, as he pulled on Bubba's arm. Bubba pulled back, smiling a large fangy smile at me. He was wearing a shiny futuristic silver jacket with bell bottom blue jeans of all things. The jeans had some type of metal studs going up the sides. I didn't even know anyone still made those.

"Are you okay Miss Sookie? I didn't hurt you none did I? " Bubba asked anxiously.

It took me a second to catch my breath, "I'm fine Bubba. I'll be okay in a minute".

"You look great Miss Sookie! Bill said you were really old now and to not mention it, but I think you look great for an old lady". Bill was standing behind Bubba doing a palm to forehead move, like he was going to need an aspirin.

I just laughed, after all the bombshells Bill had been dropping on me for the last hour or so, Bubba had said just what I needed to hear. "Thanks Bubba, that's so sweet of you to say that".

Bubba beamed happily back at me. Bill just looked chagrined.

TBC

_I hadn't intended for Bubba to be in this story, but he insisted. LOL! _


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns this wonderful universe, so needless to say, I'm a little green. _

_I have no beta, so I can't blame anyone else for any mistakes. _

_2010 is almost over, it's been a difficult year, but I'm happy to say that for me personally, this year is ending better than it started. I hope most of you can say the same. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 2011 will be a GOOD year. Hope springs eternal, anyway. Best Wishes to all of you. _

"You're coming back with us tonight, right Miss Sookie?" Bubba asked.

Bill jumped in, " Bubba, I've been informing Sookie of the circumstances of our coming here. We're still talking about it and she'll need time to decide what she wants to do. Don't push her, alright?"

Bubba got a worried expression, so I soothed him, " It's okay Bubba, I know you're just happy to see me. I'm happy to see you too, but Bill is right. We need to talk a little more first". Bubba nodded and sat himself down in my chair next to the window, his perfect pompadour gleaming in the lamplight. I turned back to Bill, "Convince me".

" I beg your pardon?"

"Convince me, Bill. Why should I go back? Why go back to the plotting, the drama, the constant threat of takeovers and death by draining. What I have here may seem meager and pathetic to your eyes, but at least I know with some certainty that my death will not be violent or horrifying. If I get really lucky, I'll just die in my sleep, which would be hunky dory to me. I don't have to worry about money or where I'm going to live or much else. The Ohio vampires may not have had any real affection or attachment to me, but at least I know my bills are paid. And everyone I've ever known is dead. I've outlived them all, which is ironic since everyone always thought I was going to die young from the moment I started dating you. So why go back?"

Bill sat quietly absorbing everything I said. His dark eyes getting bigger and bigger the longer my little rant went on. No one does that anymore, pay attention when someone is talking. They're too busy communicating electronically with someone else at the same time. God forbid they give someone their full attention. When did manners become passé? Oh my god, I'm channeling my Grandmother now! I almost chuckled at the thought, but suppressed it. My concerns needed to be taken seriously.

He sat silently for a few seconds. I could practically hear the little gears rotating in his head as he prepared his argument. His first line caught me off guard, " Sookie, I apologize".

"Wha…huh? Why?"

"I haven't explained myself very well and I'm truly sorry".

I stared at him blankly, not sure where this was going. "What do you mean?"

"Eric Northmen, the King of Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada, and Kansas (I guess they'd added one), commands that I escort you back to Louisiana. He desires you to move into his palace….or a separate domicile of your choosing (he added hastily when he saw my expression). He will see to your needs, your expenses, and your protection. You will be taken care of and have no worries with regards to expenditure or medical care. You will be provided with the best that money can buy, and live in comfort the rest of your life".

I admit, I was sitting there catching flies for a minute. Then I remembered who and what I was dealing with, so I cleared my throat and asked with only a tiny bit of sarcasm, "And what does his majesty want in return, since I'm pretty sure he wants something. I've never known Eric to do anything for anyone without a payoff of some kind".

Bill pressed his lips tightly for a second from my tone of voice. "He only asks that he be permitted to visit with his wife a few times a week. He wishes to keep company with the one with whom he is wed".

I blinked hard and I must have looked confused because Bill added , "Sookie, by vampire law, you and Eric are still married. You understand this, don't you?"

"Agh…you're kidding! After all this time? He hasn't you know…divorced ..or annulled me …remarried or something?"

Bill reached out to hold my hands again, "Vampires don't divorce Sookie. Since vampire marriages last a specified amount of time and we are immortal, it is typical to simply allow the timeframe to run out. Eric has refused other vampire matches, even when it would have been advantageous to accept…when he was instigating the coup for example. "

"But…but…I'm human! Don't vampire marriages last a hundred years?"

"Until very recently, humans didn't live very long so a vampire wasn't tying themselves down for an inconvenient length of time. And if the human became a liability, they could always be….eliminated . (Bill had the decency to look embarrassed by this medieval barbarism) Most of the time however, vampires typically only bonded themselves with humans they intended to Turn, but for some reason had to delay the process". My puzzled expression caused Bill to further explain, "In cases of wartime, plague, traveling uninhabited regions, situations that could create survival issues for a young vampire or if the human was too young. Turning children was completely forbidden, they could be killed on sight. It would be too easy for some human to notice the child not growing". He stopped when he recognized my disgusted expression.

I gripped those elegant, white hands like they would anchor me. This was way too much information and I was tired, so tired. My old body hadn't seen this much excitement since…oh.. ..the last time I had seen Louisiana, now that I thought about it.

"You're tired, maybe I should leave", Bill observed.

"No! No, please don't leave yet", I grasped his hands more tightly, like I could stop him if he really wanted to leave. Like a prince in a fairy tale, I was worried he would leave and I'd never see him again. Or that I would wake up tomorrow and this late night meeting would turn out to have been some early signs of dementia. "You said that there was a coup", I offered, giving him an opening to explain more.

"Yes, but everything is settled and has been for the past few years. Each of the states under his majesty's rule is doing well financially. They are all stable and the vampires in each have positive relationships with the humans who do business with them. You would not be stepping back into an unstable situation where you would be at personal risk. You will be perfectly safe". Here, Bill paused, and those eyes with fathomless depths studied me closely. I knew he was evaluating my response and considering what else to tell me. Bill never said ten words when two would do. I had a feeling I knew what he was about to say and I was right.

"Sookie, how unstable has your gift become?" Well, of course he would ask that and I'll bet his MAJEST Y advised him to do so.

"My telepathy still works. The problem is my control. As I've gotten older, I'm more forgetful, unfocused …you know…a typical old person". I smiled in that self depreciating way adopted by seniors everywhere. "I can't focus on specific people anymore, even if I touch them. I end up hearing bits and pieces of everyone around me. It's like listening to twenty different radio stations at once. So my accuracy and reliability can no longer be depended upon, which is why the Ohio vampire's stopped using me. Some of my meds interfere with my ability to block at all which is frustrating because it's like I'm a kid again, with no control". And here I heaved a heavy sigh. The aches, pains and normal aging stuff didn't bother me so much, but what DID bother me was the fact that I might reach a point where I couldn't control anything and I'd have other minds intruding while I lay helpless to stop it.

That scared me.

"You're afraid", Bill said. Of course, he would notice. Bill always noticed.

I just nodded in reply.

"You know", he added casually, "If you were living amongst vampires and other supes, this would be less of an issue".

I had to laugh. "That's sounds like something Eric would say".

He smiled softly, "You're probably right". We sat quietly, both of us thinking about the big Viking, but for different reasons I'm sure.

"Why did you come for me, Bill?"

Bill looked startled and I realized he was thinking that I was having a senior moment and had already forgotten what he'd told me. I restated my question, "Why were you the one to come for me, Bill? Why not some flunky? Why would Eric send you?" Considering that Eric always thought of Bill as a rival for my affections, was my unstated opinion. Not that an old lady was really worth fighting over.

"Eric wanted someone who would be sensitive to your situation and who knew you well enough to make a convincing argument for you to come back. Also, I had spent years looking for you, so I think this was his way of allowing me to finish this task myself".

I wasn't buying this, not entirely. I eyed Bill like some odd green thing buried in the mash potatoes in the nursing home cafeteria and asked again, "Bill, did you WANT to come for me?"

"Of course I did".

"Why?"

"You have to ask ?" I nodded in response. He looked down again, "My feelings for you have never really changed".

"Bill, please don't tell me you've put your entire life on hold over me. Number one, I'll think you're a total idiot and two, I'll resent you making me feel guilty".

"No, I wouldn't say I've put my life on hold. But, I'm being honest that my feelings towards you have never really changed. They are what they are, why is this so unbelievable?"

"Well, I look old enough to be your mother, maybe even your grandmother for starters".

"Yes? And what's your point?" he asked.

I sighed. On one hand if I argued the point, it would like I was saying that love doesn't last, but still! "Bill, why do you have to be so damn stubborn?"

Bill smiled and patted one of my hands. "I come by it naturally as I recall. May I ask you a question, please?"

"Go ahead".

"Can you honestly sit there and say you feel nothing for me anymore?"

"Bill! It's been …oh…..".

"A very long time, decades in fact, I know. I shouldn't be able to feel you at all, since our last blood exchange took place so long ago, and yet I can feel you".

"I can feel your presence a little too, why is that?"

"Because we still care for one another, we can still feel each other a little. And now that we're in each other's presence, it's noticeable".

"Oh". There really wasn't anything I could say to that. What was I going to do, argue blood ties with a vampire? "Just as long as you're not going to try and get me to run away with you", I snickered.

"Would you want to?" he asked, peering at me.

"Don't be silly, Eric would kill you!" I laughed.

"No, he wouldn't. He'd probably chain me up in silver and torture me for a year or two, but he wouldn't kill me", Bill said.

"Well, I guess you should know since you've known him longer", I said, shaking my head at Bill's nonchalant comment.

"Yes, I have".

"You're a stubborn man, Bill Compton", I repeated.

"Yes", Bill said as he lifted one of my hands to his lips and kissed it. I couldn't help it. I hesitantly reached and ran my fingers down his jaw. He leaned over and settled his head against my lap, which allowed me to run both of my hands through that thick, dark hair. His brown lashes feathered against pale glowing skin as he shut his eyes from my ministrations. I gazed in wonder at my gnarly, bumpy knuckled hands stroke that gorgeous hair, tracing the sideburns with my fingers. I tried to remember the last time I had touched hair like this, hell the last time I'd had a cozy moment with a man who had hair at all.

I was partially inclined in my bed and we stayed like that for a bit. Bubba sat in the corner beaming at us. Bubba's world was simple:

When the sun rose, it was time to go to bed.

Cat's blood is delicious.

Bill and Sookie belong together.

Who was I to argue with Bubba?

My body decided this was too much excitement for one night, and I could feel everything get heavy as I slipped into sleep. Bubba started humming to himself, and I could have sworn it was "Love Me Tender".

I had a dream.

_I was dead and lying at the bottom of a grave, the sides all neatly edged by the backhoe. Someone had done a good job I thought. Bill, Eric, Pam and Bubba were standing up at the top of the grave looking down at me. This was in spite of the fact that it was daytime, since the sky was a gorgeous blue. It was weird seeing them all in daylight. Eric's hair looked especially nice in the sun. They all stared at me, while I lay quietly._

_Bubba spoke first, " You look GREAT Miss. Sookie! "he yelled, like I was deaf not dead, "Mr. Eric bought a beautiful casket for you. You're going to love it!" He gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up._

_Pam was wearing some type of huge sunglasses, like the ones Jackie O used to wear. She leaned over the edge and looked down at me. "Damn, she looks really OLD, doesn't she? What the hell happened to her?"_

_Bill growled at Pam, "There's nothing wrong with Sookie. She just got old, that's all. Please refrain from being so rude, right before we bury her. Is that too much to ask?" Pam shrugged._

_Then suddenly, another head popped from behind them. It was Selah, "Jesus, isn't she dead yet? I'm so sick of hearing about her. Sookie, Sookie,Sookie…for DECADES! I mean, really? What's so amazing about her anyway?" Bill bared his fangs at Selah, which made her step back. Pam continued looking bored._

_I stared up at Eric. He was wearing the outfit I remembered him in the most, his jeans, boots, and black Fangtasia T-shirt. He was wearing black sunglasses too, the style that used to be called Rayban's like that actor Tom Cruise wore in some movie. I wished he would take them off so I could see what his eyes would look like in the sunlight and against the blue of the sky above me. His big, long arms were crossed and he had a firm set to his mouth. Finally, he spoke, "Why couldn't I have seen you one more time? Did you hate me so much? Was I really that horrible to you?" I opened my mouth to answer , but nothing came out, typical dream. My old arms stretched out towards him, wanting to touch his hands and reassure him that I had never hated him. That my running hadn't really been about him, but when I reached it was like I was stretched out towards the sun. I shot past them all and was being flung into the sky as they all looked up watching me go where they could not._

_8_

I woke to sunshine poking me in the face like every other day. I jerked awake a little and looked around. Of course, Bill and Bubba were gone. I felt like Cinderella waking up the morning after the Ball. Had it been real? My hands reached out for my glasses sitting on the nightstand, and found a folded paper on top of them. After slipping on my glasses, I checked it out. He had used the paper from my bureau.

_Dearest Sookie,_

_Bubba and I will return tomorrow evening. The King requires me to return immediately. I hope you will have considered what we discussed, so that you may return to Louisiana with us._

_See you tonight,_

_Bill Compton_

My finger traced the small cursive handwriting. All the older vampires that I've ever met had trouble changing that aspect of their behavior. Or as Eric had once said, he'd spent centuries communicating entirely by letter and making a statement with his handwriting. It was hard to change that in a few decades.

There was a perfunctory knock at the door and the morning aide came in. "Good morning! Did you sleep well? " she asked. At the moment I couldn't remember her name. My brain was too full from the previous evening. Apparently, no one in the home knew about Bill and Bubba's late night visit or I'm sure she would have asked me about it. We went through my usual routine of getting me dressed and cleaned up for the day. My diaper needed to be changed. God, I hope that hadn't happened while Bill and Bubba were still in the room. They would be able to tell with their vampire sense of smell.

My musings were interrupted by the aide's question, " Would you like me to help you to the dining room?"

"No thank you", I answered, "I'll walk on my own". She nodded and left, much to my relief. I was having trouble blocking her and I needed to think. I was wearing what used to be called a tracksuit, but in modern day fabrics and slip on sneakers. For the hell of it, my walker and I double timed it down to the dining room. It was a brilliant, late autumn day outside with the sunshine flooding the cheerfully peach colored walls of Green Forest's dining room. My breakfast was placed in front of me, coffee, a couple eggs, some whole grain toast, small glass of OJ, and a little decorative grouping of seasonal fruit along the plates edge. This really was a decent place. I sat and stared at the plate for a few minutes. I realized that I already knew how my entire day was going to go, sit in the sun, maybe a walk after lunch, a little reading, some tv, then dinner, some more tv, then go to bed.

I looked around the dining room at my fellow residents. I knew most of them by name and had spent time playing games, walking, making conversation, even going on day excursions with some of them. Some were watching the newscast on the central table screens, with their earpieces in so the elevated sound wouldn't disturb anyone else. Mr. Rankin was asleep in his wheelchair already, his food getting cold in front of him. And Mrs. Schroeder was talking to herself again. She was going to be ingesting some meds shortly, trust me. But we were all here for the same reason. Rather, we were all here waiting for the same reason.

I was startled by Mrs. Williamson plopping herself down across the table from me. For lack of a better way of putting it, she was the home's official gossip. Nothing happened that she didn't know about, hell, sometimes the people running the home would ask her questions. She had about a million medical problems and took God knows how many different kinds of meds, but her mind was as sharp as a tack.

I tore myself away from my own thoughts. "Good morning, Fanny", I said.

"Morning Sookie!", she replied cheerfully, "Guess who died last night?"

That's when I knew what my answer to Bill was going to be.

TBC

_A/N You get one guess on who is going to be in the next chapter? His first name begins with an E._

_I wish I was more like Bill, why use two words when i can use ten?LOL! So, there will definitely be a fourth chapter. This story hasn't turned out exactly the way I'd planned initially. My original idea was much darker, and probably a lot more upsetting. I'm still not sure if I might bring some of my original concepts back in with the fourth chapter. We'll see._

_And BTW, HAPPY NEW YEAR! _


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns this wonderful little universe and all the vampires in it...damn. _

_Well, guess what? This is not the last chapter. Eric was dissatisfied with the time I allotted him, so we've got ourselves an extra chapter. I cut off part of this one and it's going onto the beginning of the next. So, there will be one more chapter! yee haa! You know the Viking. What Eric wants , Eric GETS. _

_There is a TINY "inside joke" in this chapter from the first chapter of Dead Reckoning that CH posted. Let's see how many of you catch it. _

_And onward..._

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I spent the rest of the day in fear of death. Here I had come to terms with the Grim Reaper and Bill had to come along and ruin it. As silly as it sounds, I was worried that I would die before he and Bubba came back.

So, bucking up my courage I decided that instead of laying low in the entertainment room, I would take a nap so I would be sharp when they returned at dark. After dinner, I had an aide help me dress in one of my nicer track suits and fix my hair. She seemed to think I was being a little batty, but I didn't care. Then I sat in my room and I waited and waited. Maybe they weren't coming back? Maybe Bill had reported back to Eric that I was being difficult and showing signs of not wanting to return with them? Maybe he had told Eric that my telepathy was crappy now, and Eric had decided not to waste his time after all. I couldn't stand waiting in my room any longer.

It was still fairly early, so I made my way back into the entertainment room where some residents were watching a movie. It was Blue Hawaii of all things. We watched the man from Memphis sing and waggle those hips for bikini clad onlookers. The large screen was up against the wall next to the big windows.

Someone hadn't drawn the drapes, so we could only see the little garden lights outside. The aide assigned to this room in case anyone needed assistance was actually sitting in a chair facing away from the window. He was reading an electronic book, which is why he missed what happened next.

Suddenly, Bubba's face appeared in the dark window. His mouth opened in a big white fangy smile as he waved at all of us. I jumped back in my chair even though I knew what was going on, I was so startled. That was nothing compared to the rest of resident's reaction. Screams rang out, and a couple bladders lost control as the ones who were still awake pointed at the window wildly. The aide jumped out of his chair trying to figure out what was going on as everyone pointed to the big screen, then to the dark window.

Bubba disappeared after a split second, I assume Bill pulled him away and was probably lecturing him at length at this moment. I grabbed my walker and started high tailing it back to my room as other aides ran in asking what the hell was going on amidst all the babbling, crying, and chaos. My rapidly pumping heart helped me move down the hallway pretty quickly and I took a breath as I got to my room.

"Bill? Bubba?" I whispered, as I edged into my room and closed the door softly behind me.

"Sookie?" Bill and Bubba came creeping out of my private bathroom together which made me purse my lips to keep from laughing. Bill wouldn't think it was funny and Bubba wouldn't get the joke anyway.

"I didn't scare nobody, did I Miss. Sookie?" Bubba asked. "Mr. Bill told me not to do that, but I heard the music and I wanted to see…." He must have heard the familiar music through the windows, and had his curiosity peaked.

"It's fine Bubba, but you need to listen to Bill from now on", I warned.

Bill gave me an apologetic look, "He caught me off guard. It must have been the music". I nodded in response. "Well, have you had enough time to consider what I told you last night?"

"Yes", I said.

"And?"

"Yes, the answer is yes".

"You're sure? This is what you want?" Bill studied me carefully.

"Yes, as stupid as it may sound, I trust you", I said, "I believe what you're telling me and that you are acting in good faith, as is the King".

Bill stared at me for a second. His dark eyes looked large and full. Then he leaned forward, wrapped his arms around me carefully and whispered in my ear, "Thank you". I hugged him back, but didn't say anything. I didn't have to ask what he was thanking me for.

Apparently, even though we had the Ohio vampire's permission to leave, we weren't going to utilize proper channels with Green Forest Nursing Home. Faster than I could have thought possible, Bill and Bubba had my modest group of possessions packed, bagged and ready to go. Bill said the Ohio vampires would take care of any final bills and advise the home's management that I had been moved elsewhere. Out of consideration to the night crew, one of whom was bound to show up shortly to help me get to bed , I wrote a note. They were decent people and I didn't want them to worry themselves or call the authorities thinking I'd been kidnapped or wandered off. This would give Mrs. Williamson, the home gossip something to talk about for a few days at least.

Then, we were off.

We made our way through the dark forest that had given the nursing home its name. Bubba looked like a hotel porter. He was covered with my stuff and bags. He was even wearing my summer hat on his head, so it wouldn't get crushed with my stuff. It didn't seem to bother him though, he whistled cheerfully as we made our way through the darkness. Bill had a couple more of my bags draped over one elbow, my walker (which folded up) hanging off the other and me in his arms. Myself, I hoped there would be bathroom facilities so I wouldn't have to risk going in the diaper I was wearing. I wondered if Bill could tell. I was going to have to ask him about these little practicalities eventually.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We have a car on the other side of this group of trees, we'll drive to an airstrip near here. His majesty's jet is waiting for us". His majesty's JET , wow. Well, it would definitely have a bathroom.

The jet was as nice as you would figure a vampire king's jet to be. There were the usual wide coffin bins of course, like I had seen on Anubis years ago when traveling with Queen Sophie Anne and company. But this plane also had a light tight bedroom as well, with a king sized bed and a normal sized bathroom. It wasn't one of those tiny, hold your breath type jobs you see on commercial aircraft. There were comfortable recliner type seating and tables too.

The pilot had been startled when he saw us get out of the car. All he had been told was that Bill would be coming back with a human woman. He had assumed it would be some young woman. When he saw I was elderly and that Bill had to help me with boarding the plane, he'd run over to offer his assistance. We got settled in as the pilot arranged to takeoff. Bubba said, "Isn't this nice Miss. Sookie? Mr. Eric sent it specially for you".

I found it hard to believe that Eric would send a private jet just for me. And I also found it amusing that Bubba still called Eric 'Mr. Eric' instead of his majesty or something. It's comforting to know that some things don't change.

We got settled in as the plane taxied down the runway then took off. Bill was fussing over me a bit, getting me a blanket, then a pillow. Then he was asking me if I needed something to drink or a snack. I kept waiting for him to do the flight attendant safety demonstration with the air mask. I decided I didn't mind being fussed over a little and saved the teasing for later. Besides, I could tell Bill was enjoying himself.

Now that I had committed to this course of action, I was a little nervous about what was going to happen when we arrived in New Orleans. Eric had himself stationed in vampire central, the way Queen Sophie Anne had done when she was still among the undead. He was running his kingdom from there which surprised me. It struck me as strange that he wouldn't be based from Las Vegas instead.

"How is he maintaining control ?" I asked. Hey, I had a vested interest in Eric's ability to maintain power in his kingdom now, so I was going to ask questions.

"He's assigned various loyal vampires amongst the different states. He rewarded vampires that sided with him during the coup by promoting several to sheriff".

"Bill,why aren't you a sheriff now? You're old enough I would think", I said, curious about Bill's status in all this.

"Eric has mentioned it to me more than once, but I've never been interested in joining the hierarchy. I think you and I discussed this a long time ago. It's not my nature", Bill explained.

"You always liked working on your own", I observed.

"Yes, this is true. Eric seems to have accepted this and utilizes me for various jobs that require a loyal vampire to operate independently".

"He trusts you".

"Up to a point", Bill said, "Any monarch that trusts other vampires completely deserves to lose their position. I am old enough and strong enough to not be used for spying by other monarchs. Eric knows that I am not personally ambitious for additional power in the hierarchy. I have proven myself useful to him over time. And I am comfortable working for him, so I have no reason to join a mutiny against him. So he has solid reasons to not doubt my loyalty".

I nodded along as Bill spoke. It sounded like Bill had continued eking out his own little niche in the vampire hierarchy. He had begun that with Sophie Anne with his database, which allowed him to work on his own without being a lower level flunky at some higher level flunky's beck and call. He was comfortable working that way and had a lot to offer a monarch who understood his skills. It sounded like Eric was doing exactly that. Thinking about Eric made me realize I needed to ask a few questions.

"Bill?" I hesitated.

"Yes?"

"Ah, I don't want to cause a faux pas or anything, so what is the procedure here? When I see Eric, do I have to call him 'your majesty' or something?" I really hoped not. Who knows if I could keep a straight face?

"Eric will be meeting you in the private rooms, so that will not be an issue. You do not have to attend public events if you do not wish to, Sookie. Do you want to see him tonight? It may be very late since he has meetings most of this evening. Or if you'd rather, you can get some sleep and then see him first thing tomorrow evening".

I was dying to procrastinate this meeting which promised all sorts of awkward silences, but it's always best to 'rip off the band aid' isn't it? "I think….I think I prefer the former choice. It would be easier to just get this over with, I guess".

"Of course, I'll let him know" Bill assured me, "Why don't you get some sleep now? We'll be landing in approximately five hours".

"Bill?" I hesitated again, I wasn't sure how to bring this up or ask. "Is he aware that I need help with some things now?"

"Yes, I informed him of this last night. The palace head of personnel will be hiring a nurse for you and should be available by tomorrow provided you approve them".

"Oh" This wasn't too bad, maybe I should just communicate with Eric through Bill, if I decided to be a total coward.

"I might need some help before we land…" , I mentioned in a leading manner.

Brown eyes stared into mine, "I am aware that you are having issues with incontinence and may require assistance. It would be no trouble at all. Please think nothing of it". Bill's face had its usual calm expression. There was no embarrassment or discomfort.

I felt myself flush a little, but I was relieved that he had said it first. "I'm sorry you have to be the one to nurse me like this".

"Sookie, how do you think we used to care for people who were ill before indoor bathrooms? Trust me this will not be the first time I have dealt with this. It doesn't bother me at all".

"Oh", I hadn't thought about that. Bill had not only had older parents, but he'd had a wife who gave birth to a few children at home and had also been in a war that had seen more than its fair share of sick men. I relaxed a little. "How did you know?"

"The materials they use to manufacture the …garments…it has a distinctive scent and it doesn't sound like regular clothing when the person moves". I shrank down a bit, thinking about all the vampire's who would immediately KNOW. Noticing this, Bill added, "It's a lot more common than you might think. We vampires are aware of all sorts of personal bodily functions, but we are used to it".

"I've forgotten. I have not been around vampires in a while", I mused.

"It'll be fine. Why don't you get some sleep?" Bill suggested. That sounded like a good idea, so I did just that.

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Bill woke me when we landed and pretty much carried me to the limo. He programmed the destination and came back to sit with me. Cars that drive themselves had taken a couple decades to work themselves into American culture, but eventually had proven to be necessary to deal with increased traffic. The car's computer communicated with the highway and roadway computers, guiding it to one's destination. A separate computer onboard protected the car from obstacles and other vehicles. Like a lot of older people who had grown up thinking this type of thing as science fiction, I had never gotten used to it.

You could still drive manually if you really wanted to, but good luck getting insurance if you had an accident that could have been prevented by the automatic driver. Most people took advantage of the additional time in the car to nap, read, do their makeup or catch up on work. Bill and I chatted some more about daily palace activities and routines. For now, I would be staying in the private chambers of the King (I was going to have to stop smiling every time I said 'King'). It was its own separate suite, with a sitting room, a kitchenette, balcony, bedroom and private bathroom. Bubba would actually be a couple doors down from me, which he excitedly informed me. I was grateful for that. Having a familiar face around would be comforting.

I had thought we would see some sights while driving into the city, but we were taking a "back way" according to Bill. It's normal procedure to use different routes, so as to not establish a pattern he had informed me. Vampires and their security procedures, it never ends.

Suddenly, we were in what looked like a parking garage …a very LONG parking garage, then we pulled up to some kind of loading zone, like you see at airport garages next to elevators. A young human man wearing a uniform like a hotel porter was standing there waiting for us. He had a luggage trolley and he started loading all my worldly possessions on it as Bill and Bubba helped drag my creaking body out of the limo. Thank goodness for the nap on the plane, otherwise they would have been hauling a snoring old lady down the hallway.

The décor in the public areas was similar to a nicer hotel combined with an upscale office building. Lots of stone, glass, and real wood looking veneers provided the appropriate backdrop. Various plants, statuary, and artwork finished the interior. There were a couple 'ooo' and 'aaah' moments, but it wasn't flashy.

Since it was night, all the vampires were up of course and there was some curious rubber necking going on. It was obvious just by looking that a number of them were New Generation vampires, those who had been Turned after the Great Reveal. So, ironically, I was older than a lot of them. I had to concentrate on blocking the various humans, who were also peeking around corners at me and whispering amongst themselves. It was a relief to get to the upper private floors, where there were fewer people.

My suite was very nice, but not overdone, which I was thankful for. It was decorated in tasteful peaches, light greens, and pale woods (synthetic of course). The bathroom looked like it had been hurriedly modified. The step in shower had support bars, as did the toilet. There was a shower seat in the shower too. I could smell construction adhesives drying, so the contractor guys had probably just snuck out the back while we were walking in.

Bill got me settled in on the sofa next to a fireplace. He showed me how to operate the control panel on the table next to me for intercoms, phones, TV, turning on the gas fire, and various lights.

"This is nice Bill, I should be fine", I said. I was a bit overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. I wanted Bill to leave and I wanted him to stay. He sat next to me. Bubba left, saying something about how plane travel made him hungry. I didn't want to think about too closely given Bubba's feeding tendencies.

"Eric will be here shortly", Bill said, "I'll stay with you until he arrives". We sat quietly. I wished I had something nicer to wear, but when you're in a nursing home, it's all about being comfortable. A famous comedian once said, "In your 20's and 30's you dress to impress, in your 40's and 50's you dress for success, after that you dress for the bathroom". I patted my hair a few times. "Your hair looks fine Sookie", Bill soothed.

"You would say that no matter how bad it looked ", I joked.

"No, I would offer to fix it for you", he responded.

I laughed, "Yeah, that's true".

Both of us started as there was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in", Bill called out.

It opened slowly and the King of Louisiana, Nevada, Arkansas, and Kansas stepped into my suite. Eric looked exactly the same. (Well big ole DUH there Sookie, he's a vampire). His long, golden hair was down, draping over the shoulders of the three piece suit he was wearing. And boy, was it a nice! It was a green so dark that it almost looked black. The vest matched but had some type of gold threading running through it. I couldn't see the pattern under his jacket. And he was wearing a pocketwatch. The heavy gold chain ran across his middle. They had recently become popular for some reason. Fashion never makes any sense.

We stared at each other for what felt like an hour, but it was probably only fifteen seconds.

Eric spoke first, "Hello Sookie".

"Hello Eric", I said, "It's good to see you". He nodded slowly at my comment, oh dear.

"Bill has somewhere he needs to be I believe", Eric said as his blue eyes shifted towards the vampire sitting next to me.

"I do?" Bill asked, his surprise plainly written across his pale face.

"YES, you do", Eric repeated. They gave each other the vampire stare.

"Oh that", Bill murmured, and he got up off the sofa. "I'll see you tomorrow evening Sookie. We have much more to talk about".

"That sounds good. I'll see you then", I answered, giving his hand a pat before he pulled away. "Thanks for everything Bill".

"My pleasure", he said. He left the room at human speed, which judging by the look on Eric's face, seemed to be taking far too long.

As the door closed gently behind Bill, Eric and I went back to looking at each other. I wavered for a split second, but I caught myself. I wasn't going to be embarrassed about being old. I'm human and I've lived a long time. Get over it.

"Your hair is short", Eric commented. Of all the opening lines, I couldn't believe he'd comment on my hair. Who cares about my damn hair?

"Yes, and yours is the same", I replied lightly, trying to make it sound like a joke.

"Was the trip comfortable?" Okay, we were going to make small talk. The Eric I remembered never made small talk…..about anything.

"Yes, the trip was very comfortable. That jet was really something. Thank you for that and the limo", I said politely.

"Were Bill and Bubba able to remove you from the establishment with no problem arising?"

"Oh yes, but I left them a note, so they wouldn't worry. Bill said the Ohio vampires would take care of the rest of it tomorrow".

"How considerate of you"

I was sensing a trend here. "I didn't want to start a panic", I explained. Eric's face was as still as stone.

"Is the room satisfactory? We can change it if needed. There were a few modifications made today in preparation for your arrival".

"Yes, the room is lovely, thank you. I'll be perfectly comfortable".

"Bill informed me of your additional needs and we're hiring someone to assist you. They should be here tomorrow. If they're unacceptable, then we'll find someone else immediately".

"I'm sure they'll be fine. I'll let you know if there's any problem". Goodness, were we going to make tiny talk all night? Apparently not, because Eric turned like he was leaving.

"You're probably tired from your journey. I'll leave so you can rest". He WAS leaving. What the heck?

I sat there stunned for a minute, watching him walk back towards the door. When he placed his hand on the knob, I just couldn't let it go. "Eric! Is that all you have to say to me? Please talk to me".

The golden head bowed a bit, as one of those large hands reached up and touched the door. Long fingers traced the unusual carving that hid the peephole. For a minute, I thought he was going to ignore me and leave anyway. There was a very nice porcelain mantel clock sitting above the fireplace. While I stared at the wide shoulders and waited, I could hear its tick, tick, tick, tick.

Then his deep voice echoed against the door, "No, that's not all I have to say to you".

TBC

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_A/N uh oh, it appears Eric may be a trifle bit upset huh? I'm well on my way with the next chapter and it should be posted in a couple days. Then I'll be back working on my other fics. I hope you all had a nice holiday season and you're all working hard to drop all the weight you gained. I know I am! LOL! _


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns this little world and all the vampires and humans in it. *sigh* _

_The Viking got away from me in this chapter, so it went waaaay longer than expected and I was not able to do the wrap up stuff i wanted. Please read the A/N at the end of this chapter, cuz you're all going to need to post a vote with any reviews you may leave. _

_KLEENEX ALERT ...KLEENEX ALERT_

__

This was all Bill's fault. He'd shown up all gentle, supportive and loving and I'd fallen for it all over again. I'd absorbed all the warm and fuzzies he'd thrown out like big furry lop eared bunnies. Hell, he'd even brought Bubba who couldn't remember anything past last Tuesday and who had always liked me. So, I'd gone along with it, thinking everything was rainbows and unicorns.

And now, here I was, having to deal with an angry, upset Eric. I'm not stupid nor blind. I know what it feels like to be hurt by others whether intentionally or not. His voice was tinged with anger, but I knew what he was really feeling.

"Well, Eric?" I said, trying to give him the floor to get whatever he wanted to say off his chest.

He didn't turn around to look at me. This was bad. The Eric I knew always looked you in the eye, even if he was telling you something horrible, like he was going to kill you.

The long fingers continued stroking the carved door. I only just now realized that I recognized the carvings. They looked like carvings you see on Viking artifacts that they've dug up from archeological digs. I bet it was solid wood too. I wondered where on earth he'd found it. It was a nice touch, but right now wasn't the time to comment on Eric's decorating choices. Finally, he spoke.

"Do you know what it does to me, to see you like this? " His voice was deep as it reverberated against the big door. I winced at the comment about my appearance. I would try to take the high road here.

"I know I look a lot different Eric, with the wrinkles and all that. All my sun worshipping finally caught up with me, as you can see. It's probably like looking at a stranger for you. Sometimes, in the morning, it feels like that for me when I look in the mirror", I said gently, trying for a bit of humor to lighten the mood. He turned around to face me, the blue eyes were like ice.

"No, that's not what I meant. Looking at you now, just forces me to realize all the time I've lost with you, time that we could have spent together if you had not run away".

"That's the thing Eric, we would never have gotten that time. I would have been long since dead from some enemy of yours or some other drama".

"I protected you as well as you would allow me", he said fiercely, clearly offended.

"Yes, but the only way you could have protected me further would have been by keeping me prisoner and is that the kind of life you would have wanted for me?"

"That's not true. You've convinced yourself of that over time".

"Well, then here's something else. Can you honestly sit there and tell me you were going to allow me to stay human? Would you have sat back and watched as I turned into THIS?" I gestured towards my droopy, aging self and the walker sitting next to me.

He crossed his arms defensively, " I told you I wouldn't Turn you since you didn't want it".

"Were you telling the truth? You would have been able to sit there and watch me die after my odds ran out ? Come on Eric, who is convincing themselves now?"

Eric stood quietly for a second, well at least he was listening to me. "You would have changed your mind eventually. Pam could have …." He stopped himself. Ah, a missing piece of the puzzle slid into place. There was his loophole in his promise. Eric was a genius at finding loopholes. And I'd often wondered how he would work his way around the Maker/Child problem. Children never stayed with their Makers for long. But, if I was some other vampire's Child then that would solve that problem.

"So that's what you were planning? Have Pam Turn me, because you knew she'd let me go and you could spend eternity with me? Even though vampires almost never stay together romantically very long? Did you really think I would appreciate that?"

"It would have been an adjustment, but you would have made a fine vampire. Eventually, you would have thanked me for doing it". I sighed sadly. Eric was giving me the biggest compliment he knew how to give by saying I would have made a fine vampire. He'd been undead so long that he couldn't imagine anyone WANTING to stay human.

"Eric, I would have hated you, maybe not forever because it's not my personality. Otherwise, I'd still be hating on Bill, but I would never have forgiven you for doing that".

He moved suddenly, and then was kneeling at my feet. "Sookie, you don't understand. Even if you didn't want to be with me, you would still be in the world and that's all that would have mattered. Somewhere out there, YOU…would still exist …even if you didn't want to be with me anymore. Even if you had gone back to Bill….".

Wow, that was a major statement if there ever was one.

Those large, white hands like sculpted marble reached out and scooped up mine which were in my stayed like that for a minute, his cool hands idly rubbing my enlarged knuckles, tracing the liver spots along my hands. When I was young, I would have flown off the handle at these revelations he was handing me. But now, I was older and understood what losing people meant. What it meant to be a survivor and watch everything and everyone around you die while you're left alone. I understood Eric's position a tiny bit now and I could be more compassionate towards him.

"Eric, I don't regret what I've done. I never wanted to be a vampire. I made that crystal clear for as long as I've been spending time with the undead, whether you want to accept that or not. But I will say this, I do regret all the time we've lost as well. And I'm sorry that I had to hurt you in the process of finding a life for myself".

He dropped his hands back to his sides, "You're sorry are you? Do you have any idea how many people I killed and tortured trying to find out where you were when you disappeared without a word?"

"No!" I gasped and put my hands over my mouth. Eric knew just where to stick the dagger. Judging by the satisfied look on his face, I was giving him the reaction he wanted. I hurt him and he wanted to hurt me right back. Eric was really big on the "eye for an eye" thing. "Eric, how could you!" That was a stupid thing to say. He's a vampire, that's what he does.

"Well", he drawled, "I didn't have my telepathic wife to help me, so I had to resort to older more primitive methods. What did you think would happen?"

"Bill mentioned investigating …..".

"Yes and he handed over anyone who may have been involved to me".

Goddamn Bill, he hadn't changed a bit. He'd told me a sanitized, comfortable truth that I could live with since he didn't want to upset me. That was typical Bill. He meant well, but ended up doing the wrong thing in the process.

And then there's Eric, who had no compunction about throwing the naked, ugly truth at my feet, but that was as much about hurting me as anything else. I took a deep breath , so I could ask the question, " How long did this go on?"

"A year or two….give or take a few months…then Pam started encouraging me to let you go. We were dealing with a lot of political infighting at the time and she was concerned about my lack of focus. But, Bill was supporting this which made me suspicious. I knew he'd never stopped loving you. He's a stubborn single minded vampire, and it was out of character for him to support giving up on finding you", he explained.

I was afraid to ask, "So what happened then?"

"I had to torture Bill to find out what he really knew".

At that point, I crumbled. It was too much for me. I hurriedly dragged myself up to my walker and lumbered ….stumbled ..my way into the kitchenette. Eric followed along, walking slowly to keep up with me. He made no motion to help me along, nor did he say anything. I needed a drink…water …hell … a cold beer would be good right now. I opened the apartment sized refridgerator and stared at the bright, white interior of neatly arranged drinks and food, hoping for some kind of personal revelation. I must have zoned out for a minute, because the fridge started talking to me with its little mechanical computer voice,"refridgerator door is ajar, refridgerator door is ajar". There was no alcohol inside.

"I could use a beer right now", I commented.

"I'll send for one", Eric said, going for his communication pad in his pocket.

"No, thank you, I can't have beer with my current medications anyway. Which reminds me, I need to take one of my blue pills", I said. I felt so old right now and the thought of huffing it all the way to the medicine cabinet just tired me out.

"Are you sure they're not….?" Eric asked, as he reached into the cabinet next to the fridge. There were my medicine bottles all lined up. I looked up at him with a question. "I can smell them", he said. Oh, of course he could. He pulled out the bottle I gestured to and shook out one of the little pills. Then he poured me a glass of water and handed it over. After I'd taken the pill and drunk the water, I felt a little steadier. I slowly shuffled my way back to the sofa and sat down heavily. Eric sat next to me, at an angle so he could watch me directly. I knew I had to ask.

"Did Bill tell you that he knew where I was?" I asked. Please god, don't let Bill be lying to me again.

"No, he didn't, which is surprising", Eric admitted, "I tortured him much worse than his Maker did in Jackson and for far longer, but he wouldn't talk. He's surprisingly strong, or he's just resistant to torture due to his experiences with his Maker". Yeah, God forbid Eric give Bill credit for anything.

"So, you didn't know that he knew?" I was confused.

"He didn't tell me directly, but I was able to discern that he knew", Eric explained, "I've known Bill almost his entire vampire life and I can read him very well. He dislikes lying in general which makes it easier to tell when he is. Once I let him go, I had someone else checking into what he'd been doing and was able to find out what he knew and where you were". His eyes settled on my face like a laser, cutting into me.

Call me totally confused now, " But if you knew where I was then why didn't you …..? I don't understand".

Eric looked away and gazed over at a lovely oriental lamp sitting on the end table. I wondered what he was hoping to find there. "Bill told me a lot of things about you while I had him locked up. Things I didn't know". My face screwed up , trying to picture Bill and Eric having conversations about me between torture sessions. I couldn't reconcile myself with this picture, so I shoved it aside. "It wasn't hard to figure out that you were gone because you wanted to be and I just couldn't bring myself to go drag you back. It would have involved possibly starting a war with Ohio, which would have been costly in many ways. They've always been a wealthy, stable state because they don't get involved in other states squabbles and they're fanatical about being left alone. There's also a number of very strong vampires living there, which would have made it a dangerous undertaking, so I decided to let you go".

Pragmatic and logical to the core, that was the Eric I knew. "Thank you for not coming Eric, it would have been a bloodbath of epic proportions. And you're right, I would have resented you for dragging me back by force".

"Could you answer for me why you left when you did? What surprised me the most was you leaving your family and friends. You were always so stubborn about staying in that little ramshackle house of yours and I think that was the most shocking part to me", he said. He was looking at me with less animosity now. There was a plaintive air to his expression, almost a desperation to understand what had happened so long ago.

"Do you remember my cousin Hadley? She was Turned by Sophie Anne"

"Yes, she was a foolish, stupid girl", he said flatly.

That's my Eric, not mincing words as always. "Well, I won't disagree with you, but anyway she had a son while she was still human. His name was Hunter and he was a telepath like me".

Eric sat back, frowning and with a familiar thoughtful expression that I knew so well. "I see. Bill told me about him, but he didn't mention he was telepathic".

Well, what do you know, Bill had known about Hunter all along. I shook my head. Quiet Bill and his little stash of information, but then, it wasn't like I had ever asked him either. Something else occurred to me, "He probably didn't know. Only a couple people knew and they weren't involved with the supe community". I looked down at my lap, even after all this time the guilt just ate at me. "You remember when Victor was trying to have me killed?"

Eric nodded, his body growing stiff like he was readying himself for a battle at the mention of Victor's name.

"I don't know how he found out", I said softly, "but he had Hunter killed". Eric had gone completely still, listening to my quiet words. "He made it look like an accident, a hit and run car. The police never found it of course, but Victor sent me a note later". We sat silently for a moment. I could feel tears begin to pool up in my eyes, even after all this time. Just picturing Hunter, a small child happily playing with his fire truck…being snuffed out like he was nothing because he had the bad luck to be related to me. If Victor had known of Hunter's gift, the outcome would have been even worse.

"And then …..?" Eric prompted.

"And then…..I realized that Victor's problem with me wasn't ME per se, but the fact that I was with you. You had a tiny little advantage that he did not and he was going to keep at me or people I loved until something broke. So, I sent him a letter back that I was going to abandon you and he wouldn't have to worry about me helping you ever again. I had Octavia and Amelia come up with that spell to protect the people closest to me and …..I left".

"So Victor knew where you were?" Eric demanded, his voice growing angry.

"No, he just knew I was leaving you".

"So he knew that you had left me, but he was telling the King and me…..otherwise", Eric was practically growling now, "I wish he was still here, so I could have the pleasure of killing him again". Oh well, too bad for Eric, he was going to have to just enjoy the happy memories of that instead."You should have told me, I would have done something. You should not have made this decision for both of us on your own".

"Yeah, it stinks when someone gets high handed and makes decisions for you isn't it?" I said, giving him a significant look. His fangs were down, and he scowled at me. He knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Humph", was all he said.

I wiped my eyes, I wasn't going to fall apart over the long ago past. There was no point. "Anyway, I know you probably don't accept this explanation, but that's all I got. I couldn't stay and continue to live with the constant death threats, much less the ones against the people I cared about. I wanted them to have a life and frankly, I wanted to live too. That wasn't going to happen if I stayed, but I want to make this really clear to you". And I turned to face Eric directly, the handsome, white face with the eyes like an ocean filled with passion and dreams. "I am truly sorry for hurting you. I really am and that was a big reason I decided to come back. If I accomplish nothing else in what's left of my life, I hope I manage to make you understand that hurting you was the worst thing in all of this. I missed my brother and my friends. I missed my home terribly. But the part that dug at my soul, was what I did to you. I hope, someday, you can forgive me". I reached for his hands and squeezed them tightly, or as tightly as an old woman with bouts of arthritis can squeeze.

Eric sat and stared into my eyes, it almost hurt to gaze at him. I realized that out of all the 'older' vampires I've met and I'm talking about ones hovering at the thousand year old mark; Eric was the most alive vampire I had ever met. So many of them reach a point where they've jettisoned every human element or sense of joy that you can experience. It's understandable why they do this. Going year after year, decade after decade, century after century of change and almost constant loss ….wouldn't you want to shield yourself from all that? But Eric had not, he still allowed himself to enjoy the day to day and he had let a young, stubborn girl from a backwater town into his heart. Only to have his heart crushed by her.

"You want me to forgive you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side as he continued to observe me.

"I'm hoping someday you will,that's all. I'm not making any demands about it. I know I have no right to".

"Drink from me", he said.

HUH? "What? You want me to drink from you? Why?"I asked, completely flabbergasted.

"You are still my wife and bonded. Your feelings are very muted and it's hard to connect them with what you've been saying. I want to feel you directly".

"Um, you want to renew our blood bond?" I asked, trying to make sure I was clear on this.

"Not yet, I'm not going to feed on you. You're too tired and weak right now. But I would like you to drink from me, so I can feel close to you once more. And it would help you also".

"Eric there is no cure for aging. Aging is not a disease".

"No, but several of your ailments can be alleviated or cured by vampire blood", he suggested.

Well, crap, in for a dime, in for a dollar, right? "Okay, I guess", I said a little hesitant.I was rewarded with a large Eric smile, the first he'd shown me since coming into the suite. This made me feel more confident about it. It's not like it was going to hurt me. Hey! I had a happy thought. Maybe it would help with the diaper situation. That would be great. Alright, now I was totally on board with this.

"Are we doing this now?" I asked.

In answer, he scooted closer to me and put his right arm over my shoulders. I was now nicely ensconced in the crook of his arm. A familiar crunching sound and his bloody left wrist hovered in front of my mouth. I took a deep breath and pulled it towards me, sucking as hard as I could. Thank goodness I still had all my teeth. I couldn't imagine doing this with dentures.

It was just as gross as I remembered, but I felt the familiar sensations of well being and power flow through me. When you get old, you just get used to feeling some sort of pain all the time. Now, some of those pains were slowly ebbing away like the ocean at low tide and it felt awesome.

Eric was having a typical vampire reaction to someone drinking his blood. The arm that had been draped over my shoulders crept around and was pulling me in tightly to him. His cheek was lying across my head and even with my glasses getting shoved all cock eyed, I could see him rubbing his legs together. Eric was hunching himself around me and I felt fangs dragging across the side of my face. Eric really wasn't going to get off on some old lady was he? Whoops! Yes, he was…his mouth emitted a soft moan and there was a quiver that ran across the long body pressed against mine.

Well, at least now I wasn't the only one in the room who was going to need their under garments changed.

Eric sat back and casually licked the remains of his blood off his wrist as the puncture marks healed up. I straightened my glasses and tried to reassemble my dignity a little. Much to my surprise, Eric leaned forward and kissed my cheek, "Thank you", he said.

"You're welcome", I responded, what else was I going to say?

I felt…I guess lighter would be the word. Like the heaviness of my various ailments were falling away like dead skin. Eric had reached up and was stroking my cheek. He didn't seem to be put off by the many wrinkles that covered my face like a road map. He murmured something softly to himself, so I had to ask. "Do I …feel…different to you?"

"Actually, yes you do", he answered", your emotions are…..more tempered. There's less chaos than when you were younger".

I had to laugh at that description, "Chaos, that's a good word".

"But you still feel like my Sookie", he smiled, and his hand drifted down my shoulder. I let out a squeak when the cool hand came to rest on my chest and he gave my boobage a friendly squeeze.

"Eric!" I snapped, and slapped his hand away. He didn't react at all, he just put that hand right back.

"May I see them?"

"ERIC!"

"Well?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I said so!"

"That doesn't sound like a reason to me".

I would have agreed with him when I was 13 and my Gran said my homework had to be done before I was allowed to play outside on the weekends, but that was then and this was now. "Eric, you're a perverted old vampire, you know that?"

"You're just now figuring that out? I thought you were smarter than that", he smirked at me, then pulled his lips back so his fangs were fully visible.

"Agh!" I said, as I pushed at his hand again. I'll freely admit this was all about vanity. I don't care how many romance novels you read; large breasts are never 'pert' or 'perky' and gravity will always, ALWAYS win. I wanted him to remember how they used to look, not how they drooped halfway down my paunchy stomach now.

The stupid, horny old vampire sitting next to me was starting to catch on to the fact that I was being serious and he let me push his hand away. Eric's lower lip started sticking out in a sad little pout, which combined with his fangs looked….ridiculous. Guess what? Sookie isn't the pushover she used to be. "Eric, you can save the pity party, it isn't going to work", I sniffed.

"You don't want me?" he asked in a hurt voice. Boy, he was laying it on thick wasn't he?

"Eric, for starters we havn't seen each other in decades. Second of all, I'm really not sure it's a good idea given my age. I think you'll just be disappointed and we're probably not compatible anymore….physically". What I didn't want to say out loud was the simple fact that I wouldn't be able to 'keep up' and I didn't need some sad, humiliating pity sex with Eric. I'd rather just live with the wonderful memories from back when I was young, moderately flexible and able to handle him for hours.

His fangs had slid back up into his mouth, which was a good thing in my opinion. His eyes were very bright as he said, "I've never had sex with an elderly woman before. I've never wanted to….until now".

Great, now I'm a science project. "I'm sorry, but that's how I feel about it", I said, ignoring his last comment entirely.

"We'll discuss this again some other time", he commented. Of course we would."Did you find someone better?" he asked. Oh for goodness sake, male competitiveness and vampire possessiveness raises it's head.

"No, Eric, I wouldn't say that exactly".

"Tell me", he commanded.

"I will if you cut the macho thing".

He relaxed a little and appeared to be trying to figure out what I wanted, so he could get the information he desired. "Vampire?" he asked, even though it was obviously killing him…the thought I might have been shacking up with some other vampire all these years.

"No, he was a shifter, or a were animal as you would call him. He's dead now".

Eric shifted and he was fighting his pleasure at my mystery man not being a vampire with his disgust at me dating a shifter. "Did you love him?"

"Yes, he was a good person. He was smart in a clever kind of way and he looked out for me".

"Did this paragon have a name?" he asked.

I gave him a warning look, "His name was Michael. He was the chief mechanic for the King of Ohio".

Eric grunted, the closest thing he'd offer as a sign of respect. Most vampires, especially old ones had to trust other people to maintain modern machines for them. This also meant that these individuals had to be loyal, trustworthy and their character beyond reproach. "His palace?"

"No, he took care of the automobiles. Most of the cities in Ohio were a couple hours from each other and traveling between them by car was common for business meetings with the sheriffs".

"Did he know about your situation?"

"Yes, I trusted him and he knew why I had run away from Louisiana".

"What happened to him?"

"He was killed by some rogue vampires who were trying to get to the King of Ohio".

Eric frowned. He seemed to be pulling a memory out of the mothballs. "I think I remember hearing about that from the King of Kentucky. The Ohio vampires had asked permission to hunt in his territory for the rogues. And didn't they catch one in Tennessee as well? I was impressed with their tracking ability".

I smiled grimly, "Michael left his mark on them, so they were able to track them easily".

Eric raised an eyebrow at me. "His fighting ability must have been remarkable to leave lingering marks on vampires that could be tracked for so long. I recall it took weeks to catch them all"

I scratched back of my head, "Well, not exactly".

"What was his shift?" Eric was definitely curious now.

"I don't know if I want to tell you that".

"Why?"

"Because I'll be upset if you insult him, I'm warning you", I said, giving him my best dirty Harry look.

"Don't be absurd, just tell me", Eric insisted.

I took a breath, "He shifted into a …..skunk".

The effect was immediate. Eric pressed his lips together so tight, they were like one skinny straight line.

"Eric", I warned.

His belly started to shake and he turned his face away from me.

"ERIC! I mean it!"I confess,I was hurt. Michael said this was why he didn't hang around with other shifters much because they wavered between treating him like a joke and being afraid he'd get ticked off and spray them.

Suddenly, Eric's long arms reached all the way around and he squeezed me tight. I was jammed against his shaking chest. "Oh lover! I'm not laughing at him. Well, not exactly, I'm laughing at a funny memory. Would you like to hear it?"

My hurt feelings subsided a bit at his admission. "Go ahead", I said, and I pulled my glasses off because they were getting knocked off anyway by his chest.

"When I first came to this country, I knew very little about it. Back then, the only way to find out about a new land was to read books written by explorers, which had drawings, no photographs or to explore the land yourself. I was unfamiliar with the floral and fauna, well I paid the price for that". He chuckled.

"You took on a skunk? Was it a shifter?"

"No, just a regular skunk, not a shifter" I could hear the smile in his voice. "Large meetings between vampires were a rarity back then. Since there were fewer people, we vampires had to stay spread apart so there would be enough food for all of us. But like most creatures, we occasionally crave the company of our own kind and I was attending one such meeting. It was in a large barn in the country since we were trying to not attract attention. Then this small, furry, black and white animal waddled into the barn. You never saw vampires run so fast…..all except me" Eric's chest shook as he laughed.

"The skunk got you". It wasn't a question.

"Oh yes".

Okay, now I had to laugh too. "I'm sorry, I know it's pretty awful".

"I'll say it is, the other vampires kicked me out of the meeting for being so stupid as to have angered the small creature instead of just running like they did. The barn couldn't be used for meetings for a long time and no one wanted to be around me for nearly a month. I thought it was never going to come off".

I giggled and hugged him back now that I knew what he'd been laughing at. "Don't you dare tell Bill", he added.

"Of course not", I assured him. Oh, I was definitely going to tell Bill tomorrow.

But Eric wasn't done yet, "Sookie?"

"Yes?"

He hesitated, "Why didn't you have any children? The shifter would have been able to father them for you. I was surprised when Bill told me you were not a mother. Bill especially, was surprised. He said you had always wanted children".

I was relaxing into his chest and since we'd talked about everything else…well….. I sighed, " I wasn't able to have any. The doctor said I had suffered some type of trauma around my uterus that made it impossible for an embryo to implant properly. It took me a while to realize it was a little leftover gift from the fairies Neave and her brother….the things they did to me".

Eric's arms tightened some more around me and I could hear a low hiss emitting from his mouth. I guess we could just add Thing one and Thing two to the list of people Eric would like the pleasure of killing again.

"I'm sorry". He meant it.

"I've deal t with it", I said, and shrugged.

We stayed like that for a while, quietly holding each other. Even though it was muted as Eric had stated, I could feel him through our bond. "You need to rest", Eric said", I will see you tomorrow. I would like to drink from you if you will permit me".

I honestly couldn't think of any reason to say no, "Alright".

"That was easy", he blurted, "I find myself wishing you had always been this age. You're much more reasonable'.

We both had a good laugh at that.

TBC

_A/N AWWW ! Ain't that sweet? The problem is that this was not my original ending section, not at all. So, my dear readers you have a choice to make. You can either have me post the final wrap up chapter OR I can leave this as is . If you choose the latter, I'll post what my original conception was on my profile page, for those of you who are curious about it. Anyway, when you leave your review, you need to vote and let me know. I've never allowed anyone else to decide anything major about one of my fics, but I'm completely unsure which way to jump on this. So talk to me people! _

_BTW, I got the idea for the skunk thing cuz i was trying to think of an animal that is simultaneously feared and mocked. Plus, I had a friend in college from Pakistan and I had to explain to him what a skunk was cuz this was in Ohio which most definitely has plenty of them and I told him "if you ever see a small,furry black and white animal that isn't a cat or dog, run like H*LL! " LOL! _


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns all these wonderful characters and I'm as jealous as ****. _

_I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that this is an ANGST FREE chapter! The bad news (or maybe this is good news too) is that I'm still not done. This chapter got out of control and posting a fifteen thousand word chapter just doesn't work from the plot flow/tone side of things. I don't have to work my 3rd job this weekend though, so I should have the final chapter up this weekend, provided the snow doens't knock out my power again, and I don't die of a heart attack from shoveling it. _

_I'm enjoying old Sookie enough that I might think about doing some outtakes type one shots on this later, but we'll see. I want to finish this by the end of January and get back to Nesting Instincts and my other stories. _

_Enjoy! _

_888888888888888888_

I woke up late the next morning. My concern about getting out of bed and going to the bathroom was answered by a tall woman knocking softly on the door, "Ma'am?"

I didn't panic since I had seen the type of security this place had. Just getting to this floor would have taxed James Bond's creativity, much les s infiltrating this section. And Bill had shown me a panic button that was on the edge of the headboard to my bed if I needed help.

Besides, if someone wanted to kill me, I doubt they'd wake me up first.

I slid my glasses on so I could examine this stranger in my bedroom. She was wearing the typical nurse's togs of scrubs with happy looking black and white cows scattered across a farming scene. She was tall and appeared to be about 40 years of age. Broad shoulders filled the doorway. I bet she could lift me without breaking a sweat. She had a light tan, and her hair was short and almost black. I'd have to be careful not to get her confused with Bill from the back.

"Are you the nurse?" Boy, I was going to impress the heck out of her with my intelligence wasn't I?

"Yes, my name is Elizabeth Vacca, but you can call me Bessie. I've been hired to help you. I have a list of references and my educational background if you would like to see it. Mr. Compton has already reviewed it". Her large brown eyes studied me with a placid, relaxed expression. She had no nervous tics at all which was surprising since she was being hired to watch over someone the vampire king of Louisiana considered important.

If Bill had anything to do with this, he had already checked her references forward and backward. So, I wasn't worried about her stealing or doing drugs. A familiar pattern from her brain marked her as a shifter. I wondered what she shifted into, but decided that might be too personal for an initial conversation.

"Well, let's see how it goes for a few days and then decide" , I said.

"Very good ma'am". She didn't seem very worried about this. Either she was a really good nurse (the good ones are worth every penny they're paid) or she didn't care. I suspected the former.

"By the way, you can call me Sookie", I said. She nodded and came over to help me out of bed. We discussed a routine, my preferences about things, my medications, etc while she got me into the bathroom. She was a fairly relaxed person, but paid attention to detail with regards to little things, like putting the cap back on the toothpaste. When you have to deal with someone day after day, believe me, that stuff matters.

It turned out she was from Topeka, Kansas and had worked for the vampires there off and on over the past few years. When she heard about this position several days ago, she had applied immediately.(Bill must have been very confident about convincing me to return with him) Eric had a good reputation as an employer. She had heard positive things about him when he had taken over Kansas from the vampires there. The previous Kansas vampire king had been an "idiot" and no one in the supe community had been surprised by his ouster. They had only been amazed he had lasted so long.

She turned out to be just as strong as I had figured. Helping me in and out of the shower was no problem at all. I noticed that many of my usual morning aches and pains had disappeared. (Thank you Eric!) I felt really …GOOD…for the first time in a while. Two of my usual morning pills were "take as needed" type pills, so we were able to skip those which pleased me to no end. She had ordered breakfast, after we discussed what I wanted, and it arrived as we were finishing in the bathroom.

A young Were, his brain pulsing a familiar red color, showed up pushing a cart like you see in nice hotels. He was overly excited to be here, so I forced myself to focus. The reason was innocent enough. It was a promotion to work on this floor in this section, where the king's private apartments were. He had just been promoted two weeks ago and being allowed to serve me was a privilege. It meant he was trustworthy and he was excited about it. I relaxed and we directed him out to a small dining table which was positioned next to the balcony glass doors. While we were eating breakfast, I decided to get some preliminaries out of the way.

"Did anyone explain the nature of my relationship to the king?" I asked. I was going to have to really watch myself when I said that. It was so hard not to snicker when I called Eric that.

Bessie poured us some coffee, "All I was told was that you were very important to the king and you had some sort of history with him. I was warned that there would be serious repercussions to anyone who hurt you."The way she said it meant she knew what "serious repercussions" meant with vampires.

"Well, that's the most basic explanation, but technically I'm his wife", I explained. That earned me a substantial second look. Those placid brown eyes settled on me, like she was trying to determine if I had some sort of mental condition. "I knew Eric when I was much younger, we were together for a while and then, for a whole lot of reasons, I left".

"It wasn't a mutual decision", she guessed.

"That's right".

"That explains all the little comments and questions I've been fielding since I arrived here", she smiled.

"Like what?"

"Oh….", she paused and seemed reluctant to tell me.

"Please, I can handle it. I'm sure there's some crazy speculation since Bill and Bubba brought me in last night".

"Bill, meaning Bill Compton?"

"Yes, and before you hear it anywhere else, I've known Bill even longer than Eric. Bill and I dated, broke up and were still friends before I left". I wasn't going to get into the whole Official Bill Compton and Sookie History. I'd have to write a book for that. Hell, I'd have to write ten.

"Well, the humans who staff the king's feeding room have been the most inquisitive", she said, eyeing me curiously.

"Oh, I see. Well, I guess they would be". Ick, I hadn't even thought about Eric having an official feeding room, but I should have guessed. It reflected well on the status of a vampire monarch if they had attractive, tasty humans available for their fellow vampires to feed on, especially guests. I tried not to think about the fact he had probably gone there last night after leaving my suite. He had to eat something, especially after giving me blood, and he probably had about as much sentiment for them as he had for all the fangbangers he'd fed on for years at Fangtasia. I was not going to be a silly, jealous old woman I told myself.

"But the king's personal blood donors were really pushy. They're concerned about being demoted back to the general feeding room, I think", she commented, and took a bite of her toast.

Personal blood donors? Eric hadn't mentioned that, but then we hadn't discussed those kinds of things last night with all the hashing the past angst that went on. "They really shouldn't be", I said, as I stabbed a plump little sausage onto my fork. Thank goodness, I hadn't reached the point where I was on some horrible restrictive diet. And if this breakfast was any indication, the meals I was going to be eating were going to be a big improvement over the ones at Green Forest Nursing Home. I'd have to remember to mention that to Eric. I wanted the people doing the meals here to get their proper due.

I was curious and it sounded like Bessie was the observant sort. "Why would he have his own donors do you think?" I asked aloud.

"It's my understanding he's cautious about someone poisoning the blood of his donors, so their diet is closely monitored and everything they eat and drink is checked", she explained.

"Oh". I hadn't thought of that and the King of Ohio hadn't had that type of set up, but then he usually had a regular human companion who stayed with him all the time. I guess that would be his version of the same thing. I didn't want to think about the young, beautiful humans that Eric was probably feeding on every night, so I changed the subject. "Did anyone mention anything about my little quirk?" I asked.

"Mr. Compton said you had a special gift, but he wanted you to discuss it with me yourself", she said, her eyes giving me that steady studying expression again. I'd be willing to bet she didn't miss much.

"Well, you need to know since I've been having trouble with it. I'm telepathic, always have been. I worked for the King of Ohio privately while I was living there and I used to help Eric. Now, that I've gotten on the far side of old, it's become difficult to control and blocking people out is harder for me".

Her eyes widened at my explanation. "That's really something, I've only heard about two possibly three others with this ability, but I've never met one. Do you hear everyone all the time?"

"No, blocking people out became second nature, but it's become tiring for me, especially if I'm around humans, who I can hear pretty clearly. Were's and shifters are very difficult for me to hear which is probably a big reason Bill hired you. I told him I was struggling".

"I take it you can't hear vampires, or they wouldn't have you around". She was sharp as a whip alright.

"You figured right".

We finished eating breakfast and discussing how we were going to handle things. Bessie suggested some additional exercises for me to increase flexibility and strength. It seemed to go pretty well, which was a relief. Late Autumn in Lousiana is not the same animal as it is in Ohio, so we went for a long walk on the grounds outside. It was a beautiful day, even with most of the trees almost bare. The sun was shining in a clear sky and we had a lovely walk. I was using my walker, but I was going faster than usual and with almost no pain. Maybe I could move up to one of those walkers with wheels or even a cane? That would be nice. A large burly Were in uniform followed, keeping a discreet distance behind us. It was obvious he was under orders, so there was no point in arguing about it.

By mid afternoon, I was a little tired, so we went back inside. I took a wonderful, peaceful nap while Bessie went back to her room and finished unpacking. It appeared that there were few people on our floor and most of them were supes, which meant I was picking up very little brain noise. The silence was so beautiful.

I woke up late afternoon, we had a delicious dinner, and did a little exploring around the palace with the same Were trailing after us. I heard them before I saw them.

"Is that her?"

"Yes, it's the old lady. The one with the nurse. I told you she was old."

"Oh my God, she is like ANCIENT. What the hell would Eric want with her?"

"Supposedly, he married her a long time ago, back when she was young then she took off or something."

"Yeah, back when dinosaurs ruled the planet!" There were some sniggers at that.

It doesn't matter how old you get, it never stops hurting when people say mean things. I was debating whether to say something since their comments had obviously not been intended for my ears, but I didn't get the chance. Bessie moved around the corner, much faster than I thought possible for her, and surprised them. The Were guard moved into position next to me when Bessie jumped forward and we heard a surprised little scream from one of the sniggering crew.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself, did you realize your voice was carrying into the hallway? That we could hear you?"

"Ah…..no"

"Ah…no? That happens to be his majesty's wife and showing discourtesy towards her is displaying a lack of respect for the King."

I was starting to like Bessie.

"There's no reason to get snippy, we didn't know anyone could hear us!"

"That's no excuse. You work in a palace with vampires and other supes, who all have very sensitive hearing. Your behavior reflects on his majesty as does your lack of intelligence if you shoot your mouth off so loud that everyone can hear it. Do you understand what I'm saying to you, or do I need to use shorter words?"

Amusement was emanating from the Were guard, as we listened to Bessie dressing down whomever these brain donors were. Since both he and Bessie were focused on the same thing, I was able to "hear" that these were a few of the humans from the general feeding pool. Apparently, they weren't hired based on common sense or manners. Then, things got really interesting when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"What's going on here?"

It's amazing that after all these years I still remembered the sound of her voice. But then, I'd taken her order often enough.

I took a breath and turned a bit to face her, "Hello Selah".

"Hello Sookie", she said, while giving me the vampire nod. She looked a bit older than I remembered, so she must have been Turned a few years after I last saw her. Being a vampire set well on her. She look fabulous and still smelled like a million bucks. Her chestnut hair was pinned up on the side of her head, her expensive crème colored suit was immaculate and perfectly fitted and I couldn't hear a darn thing from her vampire head, thank God. She waved a manicured hand towards Bessie and the corner where the humans were hunching into. I still hadn't gotten a good look at them yet. "Is everything alright?"

"This is my nurse, Bessie, she was giving these young folks some good advice", I explained.

Selah absorbed that, "I see, well hopefully they'll listen. It's always better to learn off the good advice of other s than from one's own STUPID mistakes. She popped around the corner in a speedy fashion.

There was a chorus of "yes ma'am's" then there were sounds of a stampede as they took off down the hallway they'd come from. I guess I didn't need to see them that badly.

Bessie turned back towards Selah, so I did introductions," Bessie, this is Selah Pumphrey". Bessie knew not to shake hands. The two women nodded at each other.

"I guess they don't do IQ tests for the humans they hire for the feeding room", Bessie commented, echoing my thoughts.

Selah laughed,"No, but the King's personal donors aren't like that. Most of them are working their way through college, so they're on a different level." She faced me directly and said,"Bill told me you had agreed to come back. I'm so glad. No offense, but I was getting so tired of hearing Sookie,Sookie,Sookie. You know how single minded Bill can be."

It took me a second to register what she had actually said. Did she say she was GLAD I came back? I decided to stick to a safe response," Yes, single minded is one way to describe him", I agreed.

Her eyes studied me for a second. I knew that she had seen me at the home, so I was experiencing a little embarrassment. Since I wasn't sure what she had observed or when, well…I would try not to think about it. "You look good…..you look… different than when I last saw you", she observed,"Are you feeling better, or did they change your medication somehow?" She was picking up on how much better I felt from drinking some of Eric's blood last night. That wasn't any of her business though.

"Oh, I think being back in my home state, amongst friends, and a good night's sleep helped a little", I said. "How have you been?" What I really wanted to know was how different it was going from human to vampire since Selah was probably young enough to remember. All the vampires I've spent time with have been older and their human memories were fuzzy. And she was the only human I'd ever known before and now after.

She smiled with her perfectly white vampire teeth. "I'm doing quite well. I manage all the day to day operations of the king's various personal properties. Now, that he owns properties in four states, it's a lot of work", she explained. "But I enjoy it", she added quickly.

"I imagine it would be quite a bit of work", I agreed. Then she said something that shocked me.

"It really is good to see you Sookie. It's nice to see someone from the old days", she said sounding almost nostalgic.

My world was getting turned upside down by Selah, since she was being so polite and….well…friendly. Had she always been like this and I just couldn't see past her thoughts and my own jealousy? Or had she changed? "Thank you", I replied, not sure how to respond since I didn't recall her and I having any happy memories together to reminisce over. And of course, now that she was a vampire, I had to take her at face value. There was going to be some serious pondering later.

She smiled at Bessie again," I don't know if she told you, but I dated Bill Compton after he and Sookie broke up." She laughed a little, while Bessie absorbed this information. This would be a good test of how discreet Bessie could be. Let's see how fast this particular juicy piece of potential gossip spread around the palace. "Oh! I was so jealous of you, you have no idea!"she giggled a little more.

I stood gaping at Selah. Selah had been jealous of me? How come I had never picked that up? Or had I ? Our mutual animosity had been so great …maybe that had clouded my own point of view. Trying to recover a little, I mentioned,"I can't imagine why. You were a very successful real estate agent and seemed to have your life together to me."

"Oh dear, really?" she smiled and gestured for us to continue down the hallway. As we kept walking she added," I had the classic parents didn't pay enough attention to me, so I tried to use achievements to get their attention blah, blah, blah. I was so unhappy back then….I wanted to fit in, I wanted to stand out….I didn't know what …I think that's why I dated vampires."

"What do you mean?" I asked. The conversation was taking a fascinating turn.

"I was feeling insecure about myself, soooo I figured if I was dating a strong handsome vampire that it made me special. " She paused, deep in thought as we kept strolling along the endless hallways. How big was this palace anyway? "Bill was always polite, and fairly considerate, but it was also obvious he really didn't care either. And he knew that I mainly liked him because he was a vampire. I knew he still loved you very much and mourned losing you. He was never going to care about me even half that much, so when I was offered the job in Arkansas, which was a promotion for me, I took it."

She grew quiet again, and I wasn't sure if she was waiting for some type of response from me. I had to say something."Bill and I had an ugly break up. You had to deal with the ramifications unfortunately. I didn't exactly like you taking my place even though I had very solid reasons to break up with Bill." I didn't know how much Selah knew and she wasn't going to hear it from me.

"Bill said the break up was mostly his fault and he understood why you felt the way you did."

Bill said mostly? Try entirely, but I wasn't going to quibble over this. It was too long ago to dwell on it.I shrugged."There was too much water under the bridge, too many obstacles and it was too hard to go back."

"I didn't hear about what happened in Jackson until after I was Turned", she commented.

I wasn't sure which 'what' she was referring to, so I just looked back at her questioningly.

"You killing Lorena", she said.

"Oh that".

"You killed a vampire?"Bessie interjected, clearly startled. She was following Selah and I down the hallway with the Were guard trailing behind us.

"I got lucky", I replied "very,very lucky." I didn't bother adding that I had killed other vampires after that. Keeping that little piece of info on the down low had served me well.

"Judith told me after she Turned me and she told me about Lorena. A lot of things about Bill made more sense after I heard how horrible his Maker was", she explained. "I'm glad I asked his advice before seeking a Maker. Judith is a wonderful and very kind. I feel very lucky after hearing some other vampire's Maker horror stories."

"Judith seemed very nice when I met her", I agreed. "I'm glad it's worked out for you." The surprising thing was that I meant it. I've seen enough pain, suffering, and unhappiness to fill several lifetimes and seeing anyone manage to find their way into a happy, productive life was something to rejoice. It was bizarre that I was having this moment with Selah of all people.

We walked for a few more minutes with Selah pointing out various architectural details. She had shown me the actual front entrance to the palace which was gorgeous with the expected expensive stone and wood (real wood she pointed out to me). IT was like the cross between a fancy hotel and an upscale office building. There was an enormous portrait of Eric above the seating area in the lobby. He was wearing the same suit he had worn last night and the artist had made his golden hair, bold face, and blue eyes stand out from the painting even more spectacularly than in real life, if that was possible.

"Oh, you should see the one hanging near the back entrance next to the parking garage", she said, after I admired the portrait profusely. We got on an elevator and as the floors dinged away, she blurted," You want to know something funny?"

I guess so. "Sure", I replied.

"Once I was Turned, I didn't want to date vampires anymore. I only go out with human men now", she said and shook her head ruefully.

Okay, that WAS funny. "Ironic", I commented, smiling at the woman I thought I was always going to hate.

She nodded, and then exclaimed," Oh shoot! I promised Pam I'd holocall her once you were available." Busying herself with a little communication pad and a black stick that reminded me of the old Wii controllers, I had a second to think.

It was remarkable, not only how different Selah was, but how she differed from older vampires. The "new" vamps, as the older vampires called them, contrasted sharply with the older members of their race. Selah had never known the hiding, underground lifestyle that had been typical for most vampires I had known. Her life had always been out in the open and as a result, it appeared had been able to maintain a comfortable grip on her humanity. I found myself wondering how it might have been if I had been Turned. I had assumed I would end up like Pam or Bill, with the vampiric part of me slowly erasing the human Sookie until there was very little of her left. But maybe that wouldn't have been the case. I shook myself out of these pointless thoughts. I made my bed. I was going to lie in it like a big girl.

"Ah, here we go", Selah said, and flicked the switch on the black stick. The glass section surrounding the top part of it started glowing. I had heard about the new holo devices . They were all the rage. You could do holo TV, do holo gaming, holo phoning (which is what we were doing now) . It was a new technology and the home hadn't seen any reason to add it to their services since it was expensive and most of the elderly people who lived there were like me, not into the latest tech gadgets.

A soft blue glow slowly rotated out of the glass and suddenly I had a two foot tall hologram of Pam floating in front of me. If you've ever seen the old classic Star Wars movie when R2D2 displays the pleading message from Princess Leia, you havea general idea what it looks like. Selah handed me the controller and I awkwardly held it up at approximately waist height as I had seen others do. The glass "eye" would allow Pam to see me and my surroundings. She had an empty space around her, so she was probably on what they called a transmission platform. It made the signal cleaner if there was less clutter in the visual field, or so I had read.

"Hello Pam", I said, trying to make my voice clear without appearing to be yelling.

"Sookie, my human friend….are you well?" Pam asked.

"Yes, quite well, where are you anyway?"

"I am in my official residence in Topeka". Bill had explained that Pam was a Regent for Eric in Kansas. She had been doing very well since the residents there had been impressed with her practical, no nonsense nature, not to mention the fact that the books were now balancing and everyone was making money. Pam leaned forward a little towards me. "Is this signal alright Selah? Sookie seems a little blurry."

"It's at a 100% Pam, we've got good signal strength here in the palace", Selah answered.

"Damn, you DO look old! What happened?"Pam asked, while peering at me. She was wearing a conservative suit, with high heels and her hair up in a bun. She looked like a politician.

"Time passed, I'm human, I age. It's pretty simple Pam", I responded a little tartly.

She straightened up and said, "I guess I didn't realize it had been so long. We vampires sometimes have trouble registering the passage of time. "

"It's alright Pam", I reassured her, even though she hadn't really apologized for sounding rude. The elevator door had dinged again and all four of us stepped out into a less fancy, more practical looking foyer with a vaulted ceiling. It was a very large, almost circular room with two doors leading off into short hallways that led to doors that appeared to connect with the parking garage.

There was another portrait of Eric hanging here, but it was completely different from the formal, dignified, kingly portrait hanging in the front part of the palace. In this one, Eric was sitting in a large formal chair, his elbows resting and his hands peaked in front of him. He was wearing a sweater and slacks. His hair was casually tousled around his face, which bore a slight smile on it. There was a burning fireplace and bookshelves in the background. The detail in the painting was so good that I could even make out a few of the titles, including Dracula. So, Eric hadn't lost his sense of humor it seemed.

"You're near the back private entrance I see", Pam observed.

"You can see that?" I asked.

"Yes, I can see almost fifteen feet out and I know where that portrait hangs", she said.

"Ah".

"Is Selah giving you the grand tour? She loves doing that", Pam smirked. "Is that Elizabeth Vacca standing behind you? I wasn't sure she'd gotten the job."

"Yes, Selah has been gracious enough to show me around", I said defensively, although why I suddenly felt compelled to defend Selah was beyond me. "And yes, that is Elizabeth behind me. Do you know her?"

"Yes, I do".

"Pam was the one who told me about the job", Bessie explained."It's going well so far Pam, thanks again for the reference."

"Well, just watch out. Things never stay quiet around this one very long", Pam said, nodding her head in my direction.

"Pam! That's ungenerous and totally not true", I retorted. "You're being unfair and giving Bessie a wrong impression." I was getting up a head of steam and was about to give Pam a good piece of my mind when God decided he was going to make a liar out of me.

The Were guard had been standing about ten feet away looking down at his communication pad and pretty much ignoring our chatter. He looked up when two men came walking through the double doors from the parking garage wearing those heavy overalls with large pockets and loops that maintenance guys wear.

"Hey! The entrance for maintenance is the next floor down…", his voice trailed off as his nose sniffed the air.

"What?" Selah asked.

What happened next will take longer to explain than it took to actually happen. The two men, who I realized too late were both Weres unzipped their outfits and jumped out of them naked and starting to shift. I heard a 'RIP!' sound and the guard was already flinging his uniform away, leaving him naked and also shifting. Then to my shock, Bessie pushed me back towards the wall and did the same thing. Her outfit exploded off of her as large black and white blobs suddenly appeared in front of me and the huge body of a cow was now between me and the fight starting in front of us.

If you've never been next to a cow before, they're HUGE. I could barely see over her back and I was using her and the wall behind me to stay upright. My walker had gotten knocked to the floor and Selah had picked it up and was swinging it at one of the Weres like a Gladiator weapon. She was trying to help the guard who was fighting the two Weres on his own.

I heard yelling in my ear.

"Sookie!" It was Pam, her holo blue self was up behind the cow with me. "Hold up the controller and push the top button! NO, the TOP button (I had pushed the lower one and made her tiny like a Barbie doll for a second) and hold me up so I can see!"

I didn't know what good it would do for Pam to be able to see, but I did what she said. I held up the controller and Pam was now a huge blue six foot figure hovering over Bessie's back. She yelled suggestions and encouragement to the guard and Selah. Where the hell were the other guards? Couldn't they see us on the monitors? There were three cameras mounted above the elevators facing the doors, they had to be seeing something.

One of the Weres made for the doors and the Were who was our guard chased after him. They pushed through the glass doors and out into the garage leaving Selah fighting the remaining wolf by herself.

I had never fully appreciated what terrific fighters Bill and Pam were until now. Selah was catching the worst of it with the wolf. Her beautiful crème suit was now torn and splotched with red from his repeatedly biting her. And she wasn't able to get the wolf pinned down so she could use her vampire strength to break his neck or back. I found myself yelling suggestions like Pam was doing.

"Help her!" I yelled and pounded my weak aged fists against the big black and white cow holding me prisoner against the wall. "Please!"

When the wolf grabbed her left arm and twisted it up and back, there was a loud cracking sound and Selah let out a shriek. Now she only had use of one arm, the other was flopping along her side. The wolf knocked her off balance onto the floor and he was going for her neck. Even vampires are vulnerable there. If he managed to bite her spinal cord, he'd incapacitate her for a minute, he could take her head off before it would heal and it would be all over.

Suddenly the cow moved.

When you see cows grazing in fields, they look so calm and docile. You forget that they're large powerful animals who can run, jump and kick. If you've watched bull riding you know what I mean.

Bessie launched herself up and the next thing you know, two big front hooves came crashing down on that wolf's back end. There was a crunching sound and high pitched yips erupted from the wolf. He was growling, thrashing and twisting in a frenzy to get free. Bessie had rammed her big head into his, like she was going for a head butt. He wasn't going anywhere, but he was trying to bite her. Selah ran over and was trying to snap his neck with one hand, but he was still managing to grab her hand with his snapping jaws. I had hobbled over as fast as I could (which isn't too fast) , picked up my walker and was jabbing the back of his head with it.

Then I heard a ding behind me, and a dark blur flashed past me, and pushed Selah away. Bill grabbed the Were's head and snapped his neck before you could blink.

And that as they say, is that.

I had dropped the holo controller, so Pam was now this warped long figure along the floor and angled up. Apparently, she was still able to see what was going on, "It's about time! Bill, there was a second one. The guard chased him out into the parking lot." Bill nodded and I suddenly realized he hadn't arrived alone. There were about five guards with him, and most of them ran out the doors to find their fellow guard.

"Sookie, are you alright?" Bill asked.

"I'm fine, look after Selah", I replied, while pointing at the vampire at his feet. He was already feeling along her shoulders and she hissed in pain.

"Why aren't I healing?" she asked.

"Your shoulder is dislocated. Once it's back in the socket, it'll heal quickly", he explained.

"Oh! That's going to hurt isn't it?" Selah asked with a worried expression.

"Yes, but only for a couple seconds. Let's do this on a count of three", he said gently, and he stood up holding her left hand while bracing his foot under her arm. Selah looked more terrified than when she was fighting the Were.

"Okay, one, two….." he drawled, then he yanked the arm suddenly and there was a "pop!".

Selah screamed,"What happened to THREE you big jerk?"

"Is it back in place? "I asked. I was shaking a little and rested one of my hands on my huge black and white nurse, who currently had her big hooves buried into the dead man lying on the floor as she sniffed him.

Bill nodded and helped Selah stand up. She was a mess. Her perfect coif was now a big pile coming off her head, and the beautiful suit was probably heading for the trash now. She was checking herself out and realized that two of her manicured fingertips were missing.

"Oh no!"she cried, looking around for the missing French tipped finger bits.

"Don't worry Selah, they'll grow back", I said in as soothing a manner as possible. Given my knowledge of her personal desire to look immaculate at all times, I knew this was rough on her.

"Feed well right before resting", Bill explained. "Finger ends grow back quickly if you eat well and rest. They should be back to normal in a few days." Selah was just looking overwhelmed and red trails were making their way down her distressed face.

Then to really get this party started, Eric and a whole posse of guards popped out of all the elevators and the stairwell doors.

"What is going on?" he demanded, his eyes flashing, and scanning the foyer.

Blue holo Pam proceeded to explain what had happened, while Eric picked the controller up from the floor. He kept looking around like he wanted to tear a chunk out of someone, even glaring at me like I had done something wrong.

He pushed the dead man on the floor with his toe,"Do we know who these Weres are yet?"

"No, but we'll find out. If we manage to take the other one alive, we'll find out more quickly", Bill answered bluntly.

The guy who seemed to be head of security got to be the lucky one receiving Eric's wrath at this moment. Eric looked down at poor man. "How do you explain this? Two intruders made it past the fifth perimeter and three women have to fight him off?

"MOO!"Bessie interjected.

"Very well, three FEMALES had to fight him off? Why am I paying for elaborate security systems and guards?"

"I'm very sorry sir. I promise I will find out. You will receive a full report and we will repair any security holes immediately", the head guy quickly explained. Then his communication pad squawked for attention because the other guards had taken care of the other intruder and were calling for him, much to his relief. Eric nodded and the guy was more than happy to go run after his security detail, so he could hopefully have decent answers to Eric's questions.

"I'm smelling more than vampire and Were blood", Eric said, looking around for an explanation."Is it you?" he asked the cow.

"moo"

"I presume you're Sookie's nurse, Elizabeth Vacca?"

"moo"

I'm not sure if it was just the adrenaline left over from the fight or just the strangeness of Eric talking to a cow, but I was having to do some serious inner cheek biting to stop myself from laughing hysterically. But I dimly registered the fact that Bessie might be injured. Both Bill and Eric came over and she lifted a front hoof for their inspection.

"Is she alright?"I asked anxiously. My poor nurse gets injured on the first day of being with me, good luck hiring anyone else. They'll have to supply combat pay to get someone willing to nurse me.

Oddly enough, both Bill and Eric seemed to know what they were looking at and they murmured back and forth to each other about what they were seeing. Bessie flicked a large furry ear and listened to the two vampire vets. I had forgotten they both had owned cattle when they were human.

Inspection completed, they straightened up and Bill said,"It should be minor, maybe some stitches. The Were's teeth missed the tendons and ligaments. We'll get you stitched up here shortly."

"Moo". The cow heaved a heavy snort, which seemed to be her version of a relieved sigh. I was in overload at this point, so it didn't occur to me to ask why she hadn't shifted back yet.

Eric turned back towards Big Blue Pam,"Double check your own defenses, especially any Weres that are not recognized or employed from the outside. We have to make sure this wasn't an isolated incident. I'll call Rasul myself. You take care of the Arkansas office."

Pam nodded obediently then said,"I'll take care of it. Don't forget you owe me money now." Eric scowled at her as she smirked towards me. "I'll talk to you soon Sookie, I'm glad you're not dead yet." Then she clicked off. That Pam.

"Take Sookie back to her room", Eric ordered, looking down at Bill. "I'll finish up here." Bill nodded solemnly and gestured for Selah to follow us since apparently she wasn't needed there either. Since I wasn't going to get a vote and my legs were trembling with the fatigue of all this unaccustomed activity, I did what he said. We dropped off Selah at her floor, she seemed a bit down, I assume because of looking all beat up. Or maybe she was embarrassed about needing Bill's help with the Were. After she left the elevator, Bill picked me up without asking permission and I didn't complain.

We were back to my room in a flash and Bill was laying me on my bed. "I'm not sleepy Bill", I argued.

"Yes, but you can still rest. I can tell you're fatigued. It's been a full day for you", he said. Well he had a point with touring the entire palace, hearing Selah's life story, being attacked by werewolves and finding out my nurse was a giant cow.

"What's going to happen? Who were those guys?" I asked. Enquiring minds wanted to know.

"Eric will finish up with the head of security. They'll have to find out how those two Weres got onto the property or if they misrepresented who they were. There's a few possibilities", Bill said, the expression on his face said his brain was already buzzing with options.

"But…."

"Sookie, could you please….just for this once….just trust us to take care of this? Everyone will be alright. Your nurse will receive medical care tonight and be back with you tomorrow morning. Eric will be a few hours, so why don't you get some rest?"

"Are you going to leave?" I asked, ashamed of the neediness in my voice. Bill probably had all sorts of duties to perform, ones that didn't involve babysitting an old woman.

"I can stay a while if you want me to."

"Please?"He sat down on the side of the bed next to me. "Bill, what if I was the intended target and it wasn't just some attack on Eric?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how silly it sounded, until I looked at Bill's face. He didn't seem to automatically be shoving my concerns aside, which worried me.

He gave me a look, "Sookie, PLEASE…let us handle it. You'll be fine. You're very safe here."

"Oh yes, I can tell." I may have sounded a teensy bit sarcastic.

"We weren't expecting you to be that far on the outside perimeter or we would have assigned you additional guards. I'll speak with Selah. She shouldn't have taken you there. She was showing off a little I think."

"Oh Bill, I don't want to get anyone in trouble. She was just showing me around. Why would she suspect any trouble?"I paused, because here was my opening about his omissions from the other night. "And I want your word that you and Eric will keep me in the loop as to what is going on." Once I read his expression I added, "I mean it Bill! I'm upset with you for your little omissions of what happened after I left. Eric filled me in and that got old decades ago, I can promise you that."

"Sookie, I'm sor…". I stopped him by holding up my hand.

"I really mean this Bill, NEVER again! Am I making this crystal clear to you? I'm old, and I've been through a lot and survived it all, mostly without your help. Stop treating me like a fragile piece of porcelain. If something like this happens again, I swear I'll ask Eric to kick your ass." And I crossed my arms over my chest, giving him my firmest expression and some old fashioned Stackhouse stinkeye to boot.

Bill was having a little shock and awe moment until he found his voice. "Sookie, I'm sorry. I will make every effort to be as forthright with you as possible, but I will say this in my defense. The events Eric described happened a very long time ago and it would have served no purpose to tell you in my opinion. Causing you pain over events that occurred decades ago would be pointless. "

I heaved a long sigh, gazing into those steady dark eyes. How could I love someone, love being around them and find them so aggravating at the same time? "I love you, "I said "even though you drive me nuts sometimes. From here on out, let's practice the honesty is the best policy rule, okay?"

The dark brows arched a little and the pale lips curved slowly as he said," I love you too. And it's a deal". He leaned forward and kissed me gently on the cheek. Then he rested his head against mine for a lovely minute (or two).

"Selah seems very different", I said, to break the silence.

"She's been going through a lot lately. The last twenty years have been very hard on her, what with her various family members dying off. Her youngest sister died a few years ago. It' s just now starting to sink in that she's immortal and everyone and everything she's ever known is going to go away. "

"Oh my", I murmured softly. "That sounds…very hard".

"Yes. Sometimes I think it might have been easier the way I went through it. Everything happened at once. I died, was Turned, lost my family, lost my home and never saw anyone ever again. It was horrible, but at least I was able to get over it and move on. Selah has been having to go through this slowly and torturously. Judith has had to counsel her many times."

"It sounds like Judith is a terrific Maker" , I commented, trying to lift the mood.

"She is. I always knew she'd be a good Maker. She had children before she was Turned and she's naturally maternal." I grimaced about what he'd said. Thinking about what female vampires used to go through was somehow worse to me. Maybe, because I identified with them more being of the same gender. We sat quietly for a minute. Then he spoke again, "I have a surprise for you, if you feel up to seeing it."

"Is it a good surprise?"

"I think so."

"Okay". My interest had been peaked, so I sat up a little straighter against the headboard and adjusted my glasses. Bill disappeared into my closet and I heard some creaking noises. He came out dragging a large familiar looking old trunk behind him. "Oh my God, Bill …is that what I think it is?"

He brought it next my side of the bed and took my hand while touching the trunk lightly with the other. "Yes, it's one of your Grandmother's trunks". I held one hand against my mouth that was hanging open in my shock at seeing something I had assumed to never see again. It was like meeting an old friend you thought was dead.

"But how…HOW …Bill…how did you get this?"

"When your brother died, there was an estate sale and auction of items in your Grandmother's old house which he had never occupied. I talked to the people doing the auction and bid for things I thought you would like to have. I hoped I would see you again someday and I could give them to you."

My eyes grew hot and tears started pouring out, silently leaving rivers down my face. I grabbed a couple tissues from the nightstand to dab them, unable to grasp what Bill had done. I had made my peace with never seeing any of my family's possessions again and had assumed they'd been scattered to the four winds or trashed when Jason died. Bill patted my hand, opened the trunk and began pulling things out.

We sat there for over an hour, with me exclaiming over various items and I would explain the history of each little thing with Bill listening. I laughed like a loon when he pulled out the little rooster /hen salt and pepper set. He had hired a conservationist to help him store everything so it would be in as good a condition as possible. The colorful little rooster was sparkling clean and in a vacuum sealed bag ready for action. I ooh'd and aah'd when he'd pulled out a box with felt bags containing my Great,great grandmother's silverware. He couldn't touch it of course, but he carefully held the box out to me. He even had the comb she'd owned made of bone. I determined that I would wear it sometime that week. There were a few pieces of my grandmother's jewelry, including one she had worn to the Glorious Dead's meeting that Bill had spoken. The same night she had been murdered. He had remembered.

Another large box was set into my lap. It was made of the same conservationist grade cardboard as the other one, and I was shocked to see my family's bible nestled amongst the non acidic tissue paper.

"Bill! Oh my goodness!" I cried out for the tenth time and I reached out and hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much…this is just….it's so…wonderful." He had to grab me some more tissues as the waterworks started up again.

"I almost didn't get this one. Someone else was bidding against me and the price went much higher than I anticipated."

I puzzled over that for a moment. "Who would have been bidding for my family's bible?"

"Maybe someone who studies local history? Or another family related to yours?"Bill shrugged. He reached back into the trunk. "These are the last two items."

Two large soft vacuum wrapped bundles were placed into my lap. The first was the quilt my Great grandmother had made with the edging my Aunt Linda had sewn years later. It had been on Gran's bed, later my bed forever it seemed. When I slept under it I had always felt surrounded by my family. I ripped open the vacuum sealed bag and Bill helped me pull it out. Clutching it to me like an old friend, I just stared at Bill, unable to speak.

He smiled, " I didn't think I'd get this either. This was one of the most expensive things that sold. The auctioneer told me later there is a market for old, hand sewn quilts with provenance. Since it had been owned by your family through its entire history…that added to its value. It still went pretty high though."

"Wow", was all I could manage to say, as I stroked the edging my Aunt Linda had carefully applied so many decades ago. Then I checked out the second bundle. To my shock it was the garish afghan that used to grace our living room sofa in my Grandmother's house.

"Oh Bill. But I thought you hated this afghan?"I asked, puzzled over why this had been saved since I'm sure there hadn't been a great demand for it. I've seen them at charity donation stores often enough.

"I do. It's one of the ugliest things I've ever seen. But no one bid on it even though it was in a box lot with other items for a few dollars. So, afterward they had thrown it into the dumpster out back. I dug it out later. I have many fond memories of things we did on that afghan." He explained, a familiar look emanating from those fathomless eyes.

"Oh, Bill", I murmured, feeling myself blush just a little. Eric's blood must be affecting me. Then, I giggled a little, picturing Bill of all people dumpster diving!

Bill smiled with me, amused then an alert expression appeared. "Hello Eric", he said, turning his head back towards the doorway.

"Something funny?" Eric asked as he stepped into my bedroom.

"Yes", I answered, then I held up the afghan wondering if he'd remember it.

Oh yes, he did. His voice matched his shocked expression. "How was that atrocious thing resurrected?" He quickly approached the bed and saw the other items strewn about including the quilt. Grabbing the edge of it he asked," How did you….?" Then he looked at Bill.

Bill looked back and said," YOU?"

At the same time, Eric said,"YOU?"

"You were the one bidding against me, weren't you!" Bill exclaimed.

"It would have been nice if you had informed me of what you were doing", Eric replied, obviously annoyed.

My head was on a swivel during this exchange. "Eric, why were you bidding on the quilt?"

"And the bible", he added.

"Why?"

Eric actually looked a little embarrassed which was kind of cute, frankly. I wish I had something to take a picture of this historic event. "Many of my favorite memories with you were under and on that quilt. I thought it would be a token to remember you by and the bible….. Well, I know that family bibles were often historical volumes for families. They have been for centuries and I wanted to have yours." He shrugged.

"AW, that's actually kind of sweet", I said. Bill made a very, very low coughing sound next to me. I squeezed his hand and added "What you did was really sweet too, Bill. I appreciate it." Then wanting to change the subject from their silly rivalry, I asked, "What do you think I should do with the quilt? Even though it's in great shape, it's still very old and fragile. I'd rather not use it on the bed. Could we hang it do you think?"

"Actually, I already thought of that", Bill replied, gesturing towards the blank wall above the loveseat. There was a long, flat skinny rail hanging horizontally high above it. "That rail is for hanging tapestries and blankets for decoration. The conservationist told me it's also the easiest way to hang a quilt without damaging it. It just presses along the hem you slide between the boards, you tighten and it's done."

"So that's what that is. I assumed it was some sort of kinky thing of Eric's", I joked.

"It could be if you want it to be", Eric said with a fangy smile and a wink."Just say the word."

TBC

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_Isn't it nice to know some things don't change? Hope to have the 7th and final chapter up by Sunday! Keep fingers crossed and thank you for all the wonderful reviews_!


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N Charlaine Harris owns all these characters and the universe they reside in. _

_I stayed up late finishing this, so hopefully there aren't too many typos. I had to go into work and do a half shift Sunday because my hours came up short due to the snow fun we've had this week. And like a lot of you, I was kind of dreading the end of this story. I almost waited until tomorrow to finish it, but decided I had to plow through to the end. _

_KLEENEX ALERT_

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_"I assumed it was some sort of kinky thing of Eric's", I joked. _

_"It could be if you want it to be", he said with a fangy smile. "Just say the word_."

"Eric you're disgusting", Bill coldly.

"Oh yes, like you've been having vanilla sex in the missionary position for the past 220 years."

Bill's fangs started sliding down as he scowled at Eric. Eric folded his long arms across his chest and scowled back. "Fangs Bill", he said sternly. Bill's mouth quickly closed, and he settled for giving Eric a sullen look with his dark eyes shooting darts.

I was surprised at either of them using such an old fashioned term to describe sex, but this bickering was getting on my nerves. "Oh my God, will the two of you just STOP. Act your age for pete's sake!" I exclaimed. Well, if they're going to act like children, then it's time to treat them like children. "Here, each of you grab a corner and hang my quilt up", I commanded. They both calmed down, Bill picked up my quilt and he held it up against the wall to demonstrate hanging possibilities. I nodded when he had it the way I liked, then they both grabbed a corner and just when I was about to suggest getting a ladder, they both levitated up to hang it.

I couldn't help it. I started giggling.

"What?" Bill asked, curiously, looking over his shoulder down at me.

"I forgot that you can levitate!"I laughed, sending myself into fits. I don't know why this was so funny.

"EVERYONE forgets I can levitate. Why is that?"Bill asked, sounding offended.

Then Eric started laughing too. "You're right, they do! I never noticed that before. He got himself under control, then with a thoughtful expression said,"Maybe, it's because you hardly ever do it. Didn't I see you walking up some stairs the other day?" He looked at Bill like this was a very quaint thing to do.

"You walk up and down stairs too", Bill accused.

They were giving me a headache.

"STOP! Enough! Just finish hanging the quilt already, thank you very much. Then please can you both leave, so I can get some sleep. It's been a long day."

"But we were going to exchange blood tonight", Eric said, with a pout and a sly glance at Bill.

Bill's eyes appeared like they were going to pop out of his head, which I'm sure was Eric's intention. "You're going to feed on her? Tonight? In her current condition? Are you mad? After everything we went through to get her back, you're going to risk her health in such a cavalier manner?", Bill was getting revved up and I just couldn't stand listening to this anymore.

If I hadn't had Eric's blood the night before, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it. I picked up what I'm pretty sure were two salad forks from my great, great grandmother's silverware set, and threw them at the two idiots hanging my quilt. Bill was at an angle and saw the fork coming so he was able to get out of the way as the fork clanged against the wall. Eric only saw Bill reacting to something and he jerked, but the fork skimmed his hand and he landed back on the carpet, hissing at me with his fangs out.

"Aren't you overreacting? That really hurt you know", he complained, rubbing his hand to sooth it.

"STOP RILING UP BILL! And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about or I'll throw this at you too", I declared, waving a large silver serving spoon at him. Bill started to open his mouth, so I pointed it at him too, "This goes for you too. Eric isn't making me do this. He asked and I agreed, end of story. I feel fine, I'm just a little tired, which is nothing a good night's sleep won't cure. So, we're doing the blood exchange tonight."

Neither of them had anything to say to all that, thank God. They silently finished putting up the quilt. It looked so homely compared to all the newish fancy furnishings in my bedroom.

I didn't care.

"It looks good Sookie", Bill said, admiring it after stepping back.

I smiled. "It does. I'll arrange the rest of my things tomorrow." I took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes a little, not just from fatigue. Hey! I just had a thought. I hadn't had any bathroom "emergencies" today. So maybe Eric's blood combined with the exercises Bessie was suggesting would mean I could go back to granny underpants during the day at least. It's always nice to have something to look forward to. "I'll bid you goodnight and I'll see you tomorrow Bill."

He came back over and kissed my hand, which from anyone else would have seemed fake or sleazy. I guess you have to be a Southern gentleman….or maybe English …to pull that off with class. "Goodnight sweetheart. I'll see you tomorrow night", he murmured in his sweetest voice that curled my old toes a little. Then he walked back towards the doorway so slow you could have counted his footsteps: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, etc. Eric frowning face followed him the whole way.

"I love you, Bill", I said with a little wave.

He favored me with his rare, beautiful smile, "I love you too, good night." And there was a click as he flashed out the door of my suite.

I clutched the big spoon and my ugly afghan, sniffling a little. I picked up the rooster and hen, holding them up side by side. I wondered if they would stay together forever.

Eric wasn't going to let me savor the moment.

"WELL, it's about time he left", Eric declared, he jumped and threw himself down on the bed, narrowly missing the silverware. I was almost sorry about that. It would have served him right. His tall body started shimmying as he worked his way out of the suit jacket he was wearing. He stretched out next to me in a v-necked sweater of pale blue cashmere and gray slacks. At least he remembered to take off his shoes.

Since the trunk was right next to me, I pushed everything back into the trunk, minus the silver spoon which I put on the nightstand next to me. The afghan stayed lying across my legs.

"Shall we do a reenactment?" Eric asked hopefully, as he raised the end of the afghan, looking under it.

"No", I said, even though I wasn't sure what he meant. "We're going to exchange blood now, so we can get it over with."

"This isn't a stop for gas on a freeway Sookie. This is a sacred and solemn act", he intoned seriously."

We stared at each other for a long second.

Then we burst out laughing.

"You almost had me there", I conceded, wiping my eyes again as I finished giggling.

"You know me too well", Eric replied happily, his large blue eyes dancing with mirth. "It's nice being known by someone." The long arms stretched around my shoulders, so I took my glasses off again and laid them on the nightstand. We settled back into the pillows with him behind me like we'd been doing it every day of our lives.

After lying quietly for a few moments, I asked," You know how much is too much right?" I hope he realized I meant the blood exchanging both directions. I didn't want to end up Turned by accident as an old lady. Then I'd have to go hang out with the Ancient Pythoness playing shuffleboard. Oh wait, she's blind, so the shuffleboard is out. "Well?"

"Yes, I know how much is too much. We'll be fine, since we haven't done this in so long", Eric replied. "Rotate your head away from me, so I can bite you lover", he added, his voice getting husky.

I turned my gaze towards the blurry, silver spoon on my nightstand and his cool hand brushed my hair off my neck. There was the familiar crunching sound, then his wrist appeared in front of my eyes again. Grabbing the wrist with both hands, I inhaled deeply, then really bit down. While I drank, Eric pulled himself tighter against me with his other arm. The long body huddled up against mine and fangs dragged against my neck. A short nuzzle, then he bit down.

I gasped against the long forgotten pain and Eric's mouth pulling against my neck. I refocused on his wrist and there was a muffled moan against my neck as he drank. His hips started rocking against my backside.

It was like jumping into a shower and rinsing off when you didn't even know how dirty you were. The little residual pains from an elderly, aching body were disappearing like tiny clouds of smoke: poof, poof, poof! My mind felt clearer and sharper. The drug like feeling of well being and happiness floated across my body. I barely even noticed that I had stopped drinking and so had Eric. If you've ever been on a floating air mattress, alone, on a perfect sunny day, floating in the middle of a swimming pool with the water perfectly still, then you have a tiny idea what it felt like. It was like Eric was my personal sun, spreading warmth throughout my body. There were no voices in my head, just blessed silence, and I was floating along in a way that felt like heaven.

I'm not sure how long we remained like that, perfectly still and silent. Then I found my voice. "I don't …I don't remember it feeling quite like that", I said, my voice a little unsteady like I'd forgotten how to speak.

"Because it wasn't", Eric murmured against my hair.

"I don't understand."

"It's different because you're different."

"How? My blood is the same blood, right? Why, does it taste different?"

"Yes", he replied, his voice a little dreamy. I nudged him in the ribs with my elbow, encouraging him to explain. "I'll have to use a very poor analogy. Do you know much about wine?"

"No, not really."

"Well, some of the very expensive reds, the Bourdeax's especially…they're undrinkable when they're first bottled."

"You mean the ones where some guy will say so and so year was a great year and all that, and then charge a ton of money for one bottle?"

"Yes, they're very strong, tannic is the word that's used…they're basically TOO strong, later they're bold, loud with potential …..then, if they're stored properly, as they age, they become more complex. It calms down, and the flavors are more discernable, depending on where it was grown, the weather that year, the quality of the soil etc." I was amazed Eric knew this much about wine, but I didn't want to interrupt. He paused so long, I prompted him again.

"So, you're saying my blood is like this?"

"Your blood has become milder, not as strong as it used to be. But the flavors are more complex, with subtlety's that weren't there before. Even with the drugs in your body, I can tell the difference. It's …quite…. Remarkable. And I can really feel you now."

"I can feel you too."

"And?"

"It feels really good. I confess, I'm enjoying it", I admitted.

Eric suddenly pulled away and started laughing, like a really deep from the belly kind of laugh. I turned and squinted at him. He was lying on his back, one arm still under me the other sprawled out like his legs across the bed. His hair was a spiral of golden strands around his head, like the halo on one of the saints. The bloody mouth was opened, with the fangs fully extended. He was laughing with his eyes closed, but I could see a thin trail of red seeping from his eyes.

"Eric! What's so funny? Are you crying?"

"Oh lover!" he cried, as he lunged back towards me, pulling me to him and hugging me so tightly, I thought there was going to be an "unfortunate incident".

"What? Eric, are you alright?"

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that."

"Say what?"

"That you're enjoying our bond", he answered warmly.

"Oh." The floaty, happy feeling was flooding over me like I'd never experienced before with him. Was I the one making him feel so happy? I wondered what he was experiencing from his end. "Well", I said awkwardly " I just don't remember it being like this."

"That's because you've changed and you're accepting it rather than fighting it."

"I see. Does it feel better to you too?"

"Yes, like I said, your emotions aren't as chaotic and conflicted. It feels much easier…and quite pleasant", he said as he hovered over my face.

I reached up and brushed the skinny blood trails off his cheeks, then licked it off my finger as he watched and smiled. Then he decided to ruin the moment….again.

"So, can we have sex now?"

"Eric!"

"Well?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

"Liar"

So much for my warm and fuzzy feelings about the bond. He was reading me again. Well, two can play at this game. Back when we'd originally been bonded, he had told me that the bond had worked both directions. This meant he couldn't lie to me directly. It was going to be painful, but we needed to get this out of the way.

"Eric, it's very sweet of you to offer, but you can't tell me that you're attracted to me the same way as when I was younger. I'm not blind (not yet anyway) and I look in the mirror in the morning. I'm old, with enough wrinkles to draw the Grand Canyon, droopy body parts, and gray hair …well let's just say it doesn't just appear on your head. I don't want you having pity sex with me. It's too sad, pathetic and I would feel horrible afterward. I'd rather just hold on to the memories of us together when I was younger. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I hear you. My hearing is perfect as is my eyesight. I know what older people look like naked, I've seen more naked people than you can possibly imagine and 99% of them are not what anyone would consider attractive by today's standards. "

Well color me confused, " So, why are you asking? I know you have personal blood donors. I'm sure at least one of them wants to have sex with you and I have no doubt they're all fairly attractive. Why me?"

Eric's mood was shifting into …well…displeased and his mouth was getting the hard look it got when he was offended. "For starters, my donors are more than "fairly" attractive. They are all stunningly attractive and they all possess clean, excellent tasting blood. And more than one of them desires me sexually. (okay, I winced a little at that comment). If I simply wanted to have fun sex with an attractive, youthful human, I could do so. But, I want to have sex with you and not out of pity. You should know better."

"Then just answer me Eric, why?"

He glanced away for a second, like he was considering how far he could push the "truth" edge. "I'm curious as to what it would be like. I've never desired an elderly woman, but I desire you. I desire you because you're my bonded and I love feeling close to you. I haven't felt this close to anyone since you left and I want to feel closer by having sex. One thing I've learned by watched vampire after vampire succumb to boredom and ennui; when you find someone or something that stirs your passions, you don't hesitate to explore it. It's always worth the risk. And the affection I feel has always been worth the risks I've taken for you."

Well, that was a pretty good answer. There had been no deceit that I could detect. He believed what he was saying. That still didn't mean it was the right thing to do.

It was time to lay it on the line."You expect me to believe you want to have sex with a woman wearing a diaper?"

"I've had sex with humans wearing diapers before." At my totally aghast expression, he hastily added, " ADULT humans, not infants. "

I opened my mouth to ask…then decided I really didn't need to know. "Well, here's something else...once you're done fulfilling your curiosity, what happens then? You move on and what am I supposed to do? I'll feel rejected and hurt, no matter how nice you are about it."

Now I had him, he shifted uncomfortably and it was obvious he hadn't really given that any thought. Eric's first impulse was to think about what he wanted and worry about others feelings later. "We could at least try it", he said, his blue eyes bearing into me.

I had already decided and for some other valid reasons besides the ones I'd already mentioned to him. "No, not right now, we haven't seen each other in ages and I know I'll regret it. Let's wait and see how things go first. You may change your mind or I may change mine. So, please stop mentioning it every time I see you, alright?"

His expression softened as he looked down into mine. "Can we still exchange blood from time to time?"he asked.

"Sure", I answered, and smiled up at him.

"Do you feel better physically?"

"Oh yes".

"Good".

He shifted and laid his head down across my torso, with his arms embracing my sides. I wrapped my arms around his head and shoulders and started stroking the long, golden hair. "You know, you must have some serious affection for me to want to play with these droopy boobs."

The big body vibrated as he chuckled. "Yes, I do. "

"And speaking of affection, just because Bill loves me too is no reason to mess with him like that. "

"But it's fun", he said, his voice taking on a higher pitch. Was he whining?

"I don't care. You're old enough to know better , you're his king, and his elder, so behaving like this makes you a bully. "

"Bill is hardly helpless", Eric snorted. I was detecting something else I hadn't noticed before. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"You tortured him Eric! Tortured! It's unbelievable to me that he even obeys you or wants to stay in your kingdom." I shook my head, trying to understand the twisted way of vampire relationships.

"He understood why I was doing it. After I was satisfied that I had extracted everything I could from him, I made sure he was tended to until he healed."

"Why did you bother? Why not just let him die? I would never have found out."

"You love him", he said.

"Yes", I replied firmly. No use in denying it, Eric would know through our bond.

"Maybe that was why", he said in a cagey manner.

"I don't believe it", I said flatly. "Just fess up."

He held up his hands in a "surrender" posture and answered. "Loyal followers are hard to come by, but intelligent ones are even harder to find. And vampires who are intelligent, loyal, and not after your job are nigh well impossible to find. And I never have to worry about Bill kissing my ass because he wants something."

Well, he had that right. I couldn't recall Bill ever puckering up for Eric. But I had seen that even I when Eric was a sheriff. There were always plenty of fawning syncophants vying for Eric's favor. I guess even Eric got tired of nonstop "yes men" and people telling him how wonderful he was.

"Bill will tell you what he really thinks because he's not trying to win your favor."

"Exactly, surrounding yourself with people who tell you only what you want to hear is very dangerous. I've seen it happen with more human leaders than I can count and numerous vampire leaders as well. If Bill thinks I'm making a poor decision, he tells me because he doesn't care what I think about him. That doesn't mean I'm going to agree of course"

There it was…a tinge…of ..grudging respect…for Bill! This was amazing to me. I had always assumed Eric had nothing but disdain for him, but if I really thought about it…Eric wouldn't have allowed Bill to enter his inner circle and work for him if that was the case.

"You respect him", I declared with awe.

"I didn't say that."

"Oh yes you did, in so many words and I can feel it too." Haha on Eric, the blood bond strikes again.

"Well…..not…..", he sounded conflicted …then finally, " Don't tell him I said that."

I giggled, my shaking chest rattling his head a little. "Bill and Er_ ic sitting in a tree, K_I_ S_ S_ I_ N_ G", I said in a singsong voice.

"I definitely didn't say THAT!" he exclaimed, raising his head. A skinny braid hung off the side of his face, that I had managed to make while he was lying there. It gave him a silly, girlie look.

And speaking of girls. "What was that comment that Pam made to you about owing her money? Is she loaning you money now?"

Eric sighed and looked away for a second, " When I first told her we were trying to bring you back here, she advised me to hire more guards and increase my security. She said that as soon as you stepped foot in the palace, something would probably happen. We hadn't had any major security issues in almost two years. I told her she was being foolish, so she said "you wanna bet?"

"So you took the bet?"

"Yes"

"How much?"

"That is not your concern." (Which was code for, it's so much money you'll think I'm an idiot if I tell you).

"So, who were those guys?" I asked, changing the subject to something more pertinent.

"We're still looking into it."

"Make sure you keep me in the loop. I've already lectured Bill. If this had something to do with me, you had better tell me", I said sternly. I grabbed his chin and turned him to face me directly. "You got that mister?"

"It's sexy when you get bossy", he smiled, displaying his fangs at me.

He was impossible. "Eric ….you're just….so BAD..what's to be done?"

"You could spank me until I talk." He winked. " I seem to recall you having some type of fixation on my bottom."

I give up. "Good night, you silly vampire" , I said while I ruffled his hair.

"Good night my wife", he answered and he leaned forward planting a gentle kiss on my lips.

"Eric"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for bringing me back."

"It was my pleasure. Thank you for coming back."

He lifted himself slowly off the bed, retrieved his jacket and shoes and made for the door. Just as he got to it I said, " I missed you."

He looked over his shoulder, the blue eyes shining like gemstones, " I missed you too."

There was a soft click one second later as he let himself out. I pulled the old afghan that my Grandmother had knitted around myself, took the large silver spoon and placed it under my pillow(just in case), and closed my eyes.

I slept better than I had in years.

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My life fell into a comfortable routine, for the most part. Elizabeth Vacca stayed on as my nurse which was good thing because she turned out to be an excellent nurse and companion. Her injuries were minor and healed quickly as a shifters tend to do. It turned out the attack had been aimed more at getting back at Eric, than anything (or so he said). I had reached a point in my life where I didn't need to know everything and could allow others to take care of business.

Selah comes to visit me regularly and even holo-phones me when she's gone. We actually get along really well, although I have a sneaky suspicion that some of her attachment to me is related to my being one of her last ties to her human life. She reintroduced me to Judith, and with Pam, we combined to start our own little bridge club. That's right, the old fashioned card game that few people play anymore. Once a week, no matter where everyone is, we have a game, even if some of the players have to sit in as holos with holo cards that the computer keeps track of for us.

So, I keep busy. My improved health allowed me to go back to granny undies (hooray!), during the day at least. Night time could still be a little iffy for me. Bessie and I take walks through the gardens and day trips into New Orleans, with guards of course. Bubba comes to visit from time to time, which is always interesting. I exercise, read, watch TV, movies and take wonderful naps. Naps are wasted on the young. You have to be old to really appreciate them if you ask me.

I don't see Eric every day. Eric is much too busy with his responsibilities, but he appreciates how precious time is with his elderly very mortal wife and he checks in every day, even if it's just for a few minutes. I know he's continued feeding and doing other things with his various personal donors. I've decided I'm not going to ask him to stop something he needs when I'm physically unable to provide it. So, there is no whining or complaining from me regarding his absences; just as he's stopped picking on Bill (at least around me) and makes no complaint about Bill visiting with me when he's not there. We've both learned a little about compromise as we've gotten older. As for his continued efforts to explore the land of sagging boobs, cellulite, and paunchy bellies…well…his middle name might as well be "relentless". And my decision on the matter? You'll have to come to your own conclusion. Ladies don't discuss such things.

Bill checks in every day also, even if he's on a business trip or abroad. Sometimes, he'll come back with a gift that he thinks I might like, just to show he was thinking about me while he was gone. If he's in a place that doesn't have the holo technology, we do an old fashioned call on my speaker phone. And as silly as it may sound, my heart still goes pitter patter when I hear that cool, dark voice emanating from the intercom. It's like flicking a switch and suddenly I'm twenty five years old again, trembling with the excitement of meeting my first vampire.

If I had known then what I know now, would I have done anything any different? It's hard to say. But, it doesn't really matter, because I'm convinced that God made the world round, so we can't see too far down the road.

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"Ma'am? Ma'am? Please ma'am, you can't go that way", the young man next to me said urgently, as he touched my elbow.

"You can't tell me where I can go", I snapped, as I punched the various buttons on the elevator again. "Why isn't this working? I'm meeting my brother Jason for dinner today. He'll wonder where I am."

"I'm sorry, but the king has forbidden…"

"I don't care what he has to say! Always telling me what to do…he can't keep me prisoner."

A couple more young men, dressed in the same uniform as the first one appeared. The one who seemed to think he was in charge of everyone, including me said," His majesty has stated we need to keep you on this floor for your own safety. We'd be happy to escort you back to your suite."

" I don't want to go back to my suite! Aren't you listening? I'm meeting Jason for dinner and he'll be worried. I always make him his dinner", I said, clutching my walker tighter. How was I going to get past these men? Jason was helpless when it came to fixing his own meals. He needed me.

Then Bessie came running up, I thought I had given her the slip. "Sookie, please let these gentlemen help you back to the suite. There's a nice meal waiting, you'll love it."

"NO, I'm not going back. I have to meet Jason. I need to make his dinner. Why won't you listen?" What was wrong with these people?

Bessie's large brown eyes stared at me. She was thinking that I didn't know what I was doing or saying. That just made me madder.

"I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm NOT crazy! All those people I grew up with thought I was crazy, but I wasn't you understand that?" I cried. This was so frustrating.

Bessie sighed, "Of course you're not crazy. But you're not well either and you need to come back to the suite. Please, can you do this for me?"

There was no way past all these people, who were determined to keep me prisoner. Defeated, I shuffled back down the hallway and into my suite. Bessie sat me down at the table, where some kind of sweet potato casserole was waiting with a side of peas. I picked at my meal unhappily and glared at her from time to time.

Clutching my housecoat around me tighter, I said, "Bill will help me. Bill always helps me. You can't hold me here. Eric can't hold me here. He can't keep me from my family."

"This is for your own protection Sookie. You're not well. I know you're upset, but we're trying to help you."

There was a knock on the door, and Bessie practically jumped from the table. She opened the door and Bill glided in, dressed casually in jeans and a long sleeved cotton shirt. He looked at Bessie, his face a question.

"She's having a bad day", Bessie said. He just nodded.

He crouched down next to my chair," How are you Sookie?"

"You have to help me Bill! They won't let me out of here. I was going to see Jason for dinner. I was going to make his dinner for him and he said he would bring Gran over tomorrow to see me. But they won't let me out, because Eric told them not to."

Bill listened to me calmly, he always listened to me. "I see, well Sookie, we're going to have to stay here for a little while longer alright? Eric is coming after he finishes his meetings and then we can discuss it. Is that alright with you?"

I grabbed Bill's shoulder and squeezed that broad hard muscle as tightly as I could. "Eric is the one holding me prisoner! You have to help me get out of here. Please Bill, I know you really love me and you'll help me."

"Sookie, we're going to wait until Eric arrives. I think that would be for the best", he said firmly. He rubbed my shoulders and smiled, like that was going to make it any better.

Well, that figured. "I should have known not to trust you", I spat out. "You've always been a two faced little liar, playing both sides of the fence and I always come out on the bottom. You love me when it's convenient, then when it's not…it's TOO BAD Sookie, isn't it?"

His face had gotten more still and his jaw flexed a couple of times as I spoke. I hope I hurt him. I hope I hurt him a lot.

"She doesn't mean it Mr. Compton. She doesn't know what she's saying", Bessie interrupted.

"I know", Bill replied, but the hurt expression around his eyes meant I'd gotten to him. Good, served him right. He pulled up the chair next to mine and sat with me, perfectly silent for a few minutes. "Why don't you take a break?" he said, looking at Bessie. "I've got a free evening and Eric will be here shortly. Go get some rest and I'll talk to Eric about some extra help if this starts getting out of hand." Bessie nodded, got up and walked out slowly.

"I'm glad she's gone, stupid cow", I grumbled.

"Sookie!" Bill admonished me. "You can say whatever you want to me, but she's your nurse and she looks after you. What would your Gran say?"

"Don't you even mention my Gran. You're siding with Eric against me, so I can't see my own flesh and blood anymore. So, just you shut your mouth you big liar." I crossed my arms over my chest, having made my point.

Bill just gazed at me sadly, with those dark lying eyes of his. "I know you're having trouble seeing this right now, but I love you. I love you even now, when you're saying hateful things because I know it's not you. The Sookie I love would never hurt me deliberately in a hundred years. And I'm going to forgive what you're doing, just like you forgave me for attacking you when I was delirious and hungry and didn't know what I was doing. " He touched me gently with his cool fingers on my cheek. I jerked away and pushed his hand off. There was relief on his face when a knock sounded from the door. "Come in", he called out.

My jailer, otherwise known as the KING, walked in, looking all serious like he thought he was going to intimidate me. He gave Bill a look.

"She's having a bad day, a really bad day", Bill advised.

Eric nodded and sighed. "I see."

"I'm having a bad day because none of these people will let me out of here! And it's your fault Eric! You ordered them to do this. You're always ordering people around and trying to make everyone do what YOU want. You can't keep me prisoner forever" I said loudly and as in his face as possible. He needed to know I meant business.

Bill interjected," Sweetheart, Eric is just trying to protect you. You're not well enough to go outside."

"Don't you sweetheart me, you big phony. And why don't you just leave, since I'm sick of looking at you. I'm sorry I ever met you."

Bill sat back. "Very well, if you wish me gone, I'll leave. Eric will stay with you for a while. Let me know when you need me back", he said, looking at Eric who nodded back in understanding.

Bill left and Eric stood in the middle of the room with his big arms crossed , imitating my position. He just stared at me silently.

"What?" I asked.

"I've never seen you be cruel to Bill before", he commented slowly. "It's very strange."

"He'll get over it. You'll all get over it because that's what you do", I complained.

"I see." His voice was neutral and his face was blank, his big eyes opened wide and unblinking.

It was time to try again, "Please Eric, I need to see my brother. I was going to make him dinner so he could bring my Gran to see me tomorrow. You've never met her, but you'll like her."

"Your Grandmother and brother are dead. Everyone in your family is dead, I've checked and there's no one left", Eric said flatly and with no emotion. He was talking crazy.

"Stop talking like that. You just want to control me, you're always making me do things. I never get to do what I want. You never think about me, just yourself", I choked out. This was impossible and I was stuck here , miserable and alone. "I'm all alone and it's all your fault."

Now, completely defeated, I got my walker and shuffled into my bedroom since my escape wasn't happening tonight. I hoped Jason would be okay. Eric followed me closely, but didn't touch me or try to help me into bed either, of course. Laying back into the big pillows I ignored him. He got a chair, kicked off his shoes, sat back and put his feet up on the bed. We sat like that for a little while. Then, I started feeling calmer and my brain stopped worrying so much.

"Are you feeling a little better?" he asked, peering at me expectantly.

"Humph", was all I was going to say.

"Well, if we're going to sit here we should talk about something. Or I could tell you a story."

"What kind of story?" I asked, since I was a little bored, but didn't want to admit it.

"Do you know the one about the witch war?" he asked.

I frowned, the words tickling memories at the edge of my mind, but out of reach. "No, I don't think I've ever heard that one."

"Ah, it's an interesting story."

I nodded for him to continue.

A long time ago, there was an evil witch named Hallow in a place not far from here, she wanted revenge, power, money, and desired a certain handsome vampire…." He began. He spoke nonstop for a couple hours, while I stayed buried in my pillows and blankets, listening. Once he was done, he looked at me and asked, " Well, what do you think?"

"That's the craziest story I've ever heard" I said.

He threw his blond head back and laughed, a deep hearty laugh. Tiny pools of red appeared in the corner of his eyes, and as he wiped them away, he said, "You're right, it is indeed."

The End

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_A/N My original conception for this story was very different. The end section is closer to what I had originally planned, but then Bill and Bubba showed up and glamoured me into remembering that the scope of one's life isn't just the beginning or the end, but the whole thing. I'm glad I wrote this, it gave me a lot to think about, but I'm also kind of relieved its over. I might do some outtakes one of these days, cuz I kind of liked old Sookie. We'll see, but now I have to get back to Nesting Instincts and my other stories. Thanks for all the kind words and reviews! _


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